The Apprentice Redux Edition
by Myevltwin
Summary: Forged by a path of blood and pain, I walk the line of gray. Memories of old destroyed by the new, I face my demons like I knew. Forever bathed with blood and pain, I walk through the darkness towards the light of day. Redux Edition.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

From the minds of TheHumanWiki and Myevltwin

A/N

This is a revisit to The Apprentice. We're redoing it and are changing up a lot of things in the story. You can consider this more of a rewrite than anything else. The story has been, for lack of a better way of stating it, re-envisioned. For those that are wondering, we are doing away with all of the other crossovers that appeared in the previous one. This will be a strictly Teen Titans and Naruto crossover. No harem pairings in this either, along with memory problems. Naruto also won't have duel personalities, so you won't see Savage or Chaos in the story.

Now on to the story.

Chapter 1

Deathstroke the Terminator checked the location on his PDA for the second time before continuing on.

_This is the place…_

He had to move fast. There were other people that were trying to find his target. The only reason they wanted his target was for question and answering and possible testing on him. He wanted him for another reason altogether. His reason for wanting him was to have him join his special team he was putting together. And while his motives weren't all pure, they were a far cry better than what anyone else would do with him. They would use him for money, break his will just to break it, or turn him into a living weapon. Deathstroke wanted him for more of the third option, but he'd give him a life all his own.

A little over two days ago a battle occurred just a few hundred miles north of the Black Sea in Tulcea Romania that was shown all over the world. While it wasn't a full on battle between nations, it was a battle where the odds were stacked against a young man.

It was all started with an amazing lightshow over the entire city of Tulcea, along with parts of Braila, Constanta, and Slobozia. It was almost like looking at the Northern Lights to those that had never seen them.

While the lightshow had been a spectacle to see, it was a terrible thing for the people of Tulcea as ten people, nine of which wore identical clothing, appeared out of nowhere and fought a blond haired young man. There was no warning at all. In less than an hour the entire city of Tulcea was reduced to rubble. Citizens were still being pulled out to the wreckage by the local military forces and the Justice League. It was mostly in part to the Justice League that the fighting stopped. However, the ten people had vanished, leaving no evidence of their trail with the exception of one.

This one wasn't on their side as far as Deathstroke could guess. He didn't dress the same as them and he sure as hell seemed determined to kill them. Whoever they were, they were a clear and present threat to him. And while this young man had made it hard to follow his trail, it wasn't impossible. He was very thorough in his work. Deathstroke had lost his trail three times over before he had finally found the correct path again. And the only real reason he was having a hard time following his trail was because he wasn't the only one after him.

The Justice League was after him, namely Batman. Deathstroke had no doubt that those nine other people were after him as well. Cops were also after him, along with a few other well paid mercenaries from big named companies that wanted him for testing and other things. He wouldn't want someone that didn't exist as a personal soldier that could fight off nine other people that were clearly stronger and smarter. Though he had been outnumbered it was a clear show for his part to be able to stand against nine people that varied in forms of attacks and still come out alive was something to brag about.

The mercenary pushed through the underbrush of the trees and bushes until he came across the spot his PDA had led him too.

The Justice League had amazing technology at their disposal, but the downside to it was that it was wasted when the enemy you were chasing after didn't exist, didn't have form of technology that could be traced by advanced or basic methods that even a parent could do. Only a few members of the Justice League could actually track him without the need for using technology, and even then, only a few of them could actually track him as though they were tracking wild game. So the chances of anyone else finding him were slim to none right now. Most of the members that could track him were away doing other things or helping out with the rescue operation to find as many survivors as possible.

Deathstroke reached into his back pocket and fished out his flashlight. He wasn't about to go into a dark cave without some sort of light to see where he was going and to see where his target was. Night Vision Goggles would have been a better choice, but there were too many unknowns for him to consider using them. The news crew had caught most of the battle after a few of the Justice League top members appeared and what had been shown had been nothing to sneeze at.

Deathstroke took two steps into the mouth of the cave before his instincts took over and made him dive for cover. The flashlight was snatched from his hands in a whirlwind of steel and fell to the ground ten feet away. Looking down at the poor object he could see two throwing knives firmly planted in it, one of which had knocked the light out. Beyond that, however, were eight throwing knives sticking out a tree, all of which were buried to the hilt of the blade.

"I'm not here to fight you," Deathstroke called out. "I just wanna talk."

A throwing knife found the ground in front of his cover. Burning paper and smoke made him look over in curiosity before he ducked down again. A second later the only thing he could hear was a dull ringing. He coughed twice as the dust from the explosion was inhaled. His helmet couldn't filter that.

He turned and ran into the tunnel and cornered his target. His target was huddled up against the back wall of the cave, though he stood at his full height, he was holding four throwing knives in each hand. Playing nice guy wasn't Deathstroke's best ability, but talking down a scared teen would be easy enough.

"I'm not going to hurt you."

Hands raised, the teen looked him over like a wild animal cornered by a hungry predator.

The videos that the news had shown of him never gave that good of an image. He was moving too fast for them to follow him. But now that he could see him, Deathstroke guessed him to be around seventeen years old, maybe eighteen. Blond spiky hair, three whisker marks on each cheek, sapphire blue eyes, and wore an awful orange and black jumpsuit with more orange than black. He was certainly a strange person in both appearance and skills.

Deathstroke gave the teen a few seconds to see that he wasn't a threat but when he never lowered his throwing knives, so he had no other choice than to simply drop his hands and assume his normal stance of dominance. Hands behind his back, his back perfectly straight, head held high, and his voice calm and clear as though he had already won.

"You're quiet an interesting fellow. You've got the entire world looking for you after your little stunt over Tulcea. A lot of people are after you and they will find you. I'd sooner not make this a fight if I can avoid it." The teen just stared at him. Deathstroke reached into one of his pouches slowly. The teen immediately tossed one of the throwing knives. Deathstroke effortlessly avoid it and pulled the object out from his pouch. "This is a Smart Phone. But your face is all over the news, along with that of your fight," he explained as he slowly handed it to him.

The teen never looked away from him. Instead of immediately reaching out to take it he stared intently at the man and then narrowed his eyes. There was a poof of smoke and another teen appeared. Deathstroke, however, turned and looked. To his own amazement there was a perfect double of the teen before him and somehow had his phone snatched up without realizing it.

Now was the strange part for him that enabled him to confirm theories presented by several parties. The news crews had brought in specialist that knew enough about the forces at work on our world. They had theories concerning where they all came from and their abilities. Some believed them to be wizards, others believed them to be unregistered Metahumans. There were a few theories concerning time travel, but Deathstroke had passed those ones off. They reacted differently to when the Justice League showed up and with what footage they had of the fighting in Tulcea it was clear that they might have come from a different timeline, but Deathstroke had his doubts.

The teen eyed the device, despite the fact that the footage and the news was being played from it. He watched the images as the reporter gave her detailed analysis on the fight and the people in it. They had Superman on the set speaking about how dangerous they all were and how they had to be found. The teens' face was even plastered up with the others that had appeared and Superman was speaking about how the teen might have been the victim. Of course said teen wasn't all that interested in the speech. He was more interested in the device.

"Those people on the news are looking for you." The masked man explained. "They'll find you, probably not fast or as easy as I did, but they will find you. I'm here to-"

"How do I know you're not with the Akatsuki?"

_I was right, he is Asian. The Japanese is a bit of an older dialect though. Not old enough to not be out of use though. Strange… _"I'm not familiar with that group. But I assure you that I'm not a part of that group."

"How am I supposed to believe you? You look like one of their former members that they killed."

The two had a minor stare down. Trust was a factor that needed to be put to rest right now. The masked man gave out a low sigh of frustration before deciding that the best way to handle this was to break all the rules of being a masked mercenary.

Reaching up he pulled his mask off and reveal his face to the teen. His hair was a mix between gray and white, leaning more towards gray then white as his age and career choice sat in. His left eye was covered by a black eye patch. He didn't have any scars to speak of, which seemed a little strange to the teen if Deathstroke was reading him correctly.

"My name is Deathstroke the Terminator. I've come all this way because you interest me. I'm not going to lie to you. I want you for a team I'm putting together." He decided that his real name was out for the time being.

"No!"

"You haven't even heard my logic behind this choice. You **are **aware that you're being hunted by others right now. I could easily tell you there names but something tells me you won't understand how serious they are."

"The only names I have to fear are from the Akatsuki. Anyone else that gets in my way will die!"

"I see." Deathstroke made a grab for his phone, but the teen pulled back and looked at it again. The mercenary sighed inwardly. The teen wasn't being hard out of spite; it was more out of his own desire for self-preservation. Still, he didn't seem all that worried about the threats to his own life and simply more interested in the device he was holding. "You honestly think you can live here on your own when you don't know how to work something like that?"

The teen hissed at him before returning his gaze to the object in his hands.

"I can help protect you from your own enemies and the enemies you've already made from this world. I might even be able to help you get home."

That was enough to get the teen to look at him in mild surprise.

His hand tightened on the object until a tiny snap could be heard. His strength was impressive to have cracked something like that considering who built it.

"Home…?"

"Wouldn't you like to return to it?"

The answer he got was the phone being shoved into his chest.

"No. No point in returning. Nothing left. All ruins and death. No point."

"No family?"

"Orphaned at birth. No friends either. Either dead or dying."

"Sorry to hear that."

"I'm not all that sorry. Once I was, but now…" He turned away.

"Abandoned?"

Naruto glared at him.

"Right… We'll leave that alone for the moment. I want to help you, but you have to trust me first. You're also wounded. You won't survive without medical treatment." _Forget the medical treatment. He should be dead right now. The videos showed extinctive stab wounds to all major parts of his body. So why aren't you dead already? _

The teen looked over at his clone and then to his own form. He shrugged. "Uzumaki Naruto…"

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Uzumaki. We really must be leaving. That is, of course, if you want to survive in this world. You've already made enemies of the Justice League with that fight in Tulcea. And with the entire world now looking for you, you've got yourself in quiet a jam."

Naruto just stared at him with a cold look in his eyes. The clone seemed to be doing the same. The original looked back at the device back to the man. Deathstroke checked the lens and sighed. It was cracked.

"So will you come with me or no?"

"You won't try anything funny?"

"If I do something you don't like, tell me, and unless I know it's not safe, I won't make you go through with it."

Naruto stared back at the device and then to his clone. His clone nodded and puffed away. The blond nodded to Deathstroke and the two made their trip out of the forest.

(-)

"And why not?"

Batman growled. Robin just had to question him over something like this. It wasn't like he didn't see it coming, but telling him to not go somewhere when he wanted to was like talking to a brick wall. They both cared about the same.

"We've got the situation handled. It's also out of your teams' jurisdiction. You can't even be in this area. And while we aren't allowed her either, we were called in to end the threat by their government. Right now we're taking it easy since they're now going through the means to make a treaty with them that will allow us to protect them in case of events such as these."

"That doesn't mean anything to me right now! There are ten people out there, nine of which are working as a team and another that is an unknown, that are a serious threat to us all. Nine of them were able to destroy most of Tulcea while the other one was able to hold them all off long enough for you guys to show up. And those same nine people were even able to deal with you, Flash, Hawkgirl, Captain Atom, Doctor Fate, and Superman. They were able to deal with Superman. That is enough of a reason to deal with them and for us to be involved in this!"

"Your team is to not leave Jump City at all. If you even leave Jump City, I will personally disband your team. Do I make myself clear, Robin?"

"No. It isn't clear. Why are we simply being knocked to the side? How can you do this to us?"

"You guys are only meant to protect Jump City from threats that you can handle. You can't fight guys this big. And we are only meant to go into areas where we have treaties with that allow us to come into the country and deal with threats that call for our aid. Right now, you're team isn't needed nor will it be needed. So you have no reason to be here at all."

"My team can easily find them and alert you guys to their location. We have to find them now before they have a chance to get out of Tulcea or Romania!"

"Robin, you and your team is to stay in Jump City. That is a direct order."

"We don't take orders from you!"

Batman was silent for a moment before finally speaking. "System override. Priority Gamma. Shut down all systems. Authorization; Batman."

Robin grinned then frowned as darkness consumed the entire tower. The lights blinked for a few seconds before emergency power finally came on. Steal walls fell down over the windows and the vents closed so that no one could leave through them. Though the building would get a little warm, they would survive easily. But the damage was already done. The entire system was shut down and they were basically trapped within their own tower.

"Cyborg, can you get us-"

"The system is completely out of my hands. Batman has control of it, man. We can't get out. The doors all leading out of the building are all locked. We're stuck inside the tower."

The doors parted to the main room and Beast Boy walked in with Raven floating right behind him.

"What just happened?"

"Batman shut us down," Robin growled. "We're stuck in here because he won't let us go to Tulcea to help them find those ten people that managed to destroy Tulcea."

"And that's why they shut us down?" Raven asked. "Robin, Tulcea… no… Romania doesn't even have a treaty with the Justice League. They don't like people like us in their country because they don't agree with our methods. However, for them to be there, as we were shown on the news, they had to be called in and are probably only now forming a treaty with them."

"That doesn't matter. I know that the Justice League have taken missions into countries where we don't have treaties with them to get people out. Batman has taken plenty of missions in other areas where he wasn't supposed to be. I was trained by him to do these sorts of things."

"Well that's why you want to go in. However, we can't. The Justice League gives us funding to do the things we do. Even though we don't want to be a real part of their group, we still have to take orders from them when something like this is going down. Besides, this is too big for us to handle. You saw what those guys could do. They could deal with Superman. None of us can do that even when working together."

With that the sorceress for the Titans turned and floated off. There wasn't going to be anywhere for them to go for a while.

Robin growled and wanted to strike back at her when Cyborg blocked him.

"Forget it, man. Though Romania is making the treaty at the moment it doesn't mean we can just go in and do whatever we want. No doubt the Justice League has to play by several rules."

The Boy-Wonder sighed and smashed his fist into the desk. Yes. Everything was against him ever since the destruction of Brotherhood of Evil and the members had been taken into jail, things had just gone downhill. The first event had been from a girl that had supposedly been Terra. She had appeared one day and made contact with Beast Boy. Through some confusion she was able to explain that she wasn't the Terra that any of them knew.

After that there was a series of missions gone wrong. The first one involved three villains that teamed up and were able to shut Cyborg down, practically destroy Beast Boy, and then silenced Raven. Starfire was stopped by the other two and then Robin was the only one that remained. He, too, was stopped and the villains were able to get away with their prize. This same team appeared for a week simply getting away with whatever they wanted until the Justice League poked their noses into it. After the League got involved the team vanished and hadn't been seen in four months.

Beast Boy's injuries had been another thing. After the fight he had been placed in the ICU for several days before he was released. He had needed a blood transfusion and stitches over most of his body. His left arm had been broken in five different spots. Muscle damage, a concussion, punctured lung… Beast Boy had nearly been killed. But the worst damage was done to his left eye. A long scar now fell across it and his eye was now partially blind. He could still see out of it, but it was still going to be hard for him to see out of.

The next incident revolved around a scandal between Starfire and her older sister, Blackfire. There was a series of random attacks in space on other planets. Like before they had to prove her innocence in this, but the difference this time was that they had video evidence that she was involved at times when Starfire was indeed not accountable in the tower or on a mission. Because of this she was in prison for two weeks before they were able to get her out. To date Blackfire hadn't been found or seen.

And then there was the event in Canada where the army took control of their government over some sort of debt that not even Robin could understand. This was a serious event in that the Justice League was called in to deal with the conflict. When the League got involved it was clear that this act of revolution was all started by a Queen Bee. She manipulated the men and formed a revolt. Why she did this, no one knew. She was captured but was able to get away during transport. The guards had been killed and there was no sign of her after her disappearance.

And then there was this incident in Tulcea of Romania. Ten unknowns appeared and began fighting against the only one that didn't wear a matching uniform and proceeded to destroy everything in their efforts to kill or capture him. The ten strange people departed without a trace. There was no ping on them from anywhere. None of the usual traffic spots where they could leave from had picked them up, which meant that they were still in Tulcea.

Robin banged his fist off the desk with a low growl.

(-)

"What did you call this thing?"

The famous mercenary smiled. Getting him in this thing had been a lot of trouble, but like any kid, once in this thing he wasn't afraid of anything once he looked down and the saw the world for what it was.

"This is an airplane, more commonly known for our team as an all-purpose transport, or APT for short. Right now we're flying, but here in a little bit we'll be going underwater once we reach the North Atlantic Ocean."

Naruto smiled and continued to watch the land go by beneath him. Naruto didn't have a care in the world as he watched the land waved past them.

Deathstroke, however, wasn't interested in the land below. He didn't need to focus on the flight path either. The A.I. installed into the machine could easily take over for him if he so chose. He wasn't about to do that though. While it would have been safer, he needed the young man to at least have some faith in his skills.

As soon as Wilson had gotten him to the location of his transportation things had gone just about as well as he had predicted. Wherever Naruto was from, their technology was limited to certain things. They obviously had some sort of phone or radio device that allowed people to speak to one another, hence the reason he had been more interested in where the power supply was for Deathstroke's phone. Obviously flight had not been achieved in their world as when they took off Naruto had been scared beyond belief that they were off the ground in a "giant metal box" as he put it.

Guns obviously weren't something he had seen either. Or perhaps he simply hadn't seen one like what Deathstroke carried. It wasn't anything fancy. Deathstroke had been carrying a U.S. military grade M9. So it wasn't anything fancy. However, Naruto had never seen anything like this. But he had seen something like the Heckler MP5, though he described it as something that was a closer model to the Thomson 1928A1.

So if guns of the older models were something he had at least seen or heard of, Deathstroke assumed that their technology put them around the time before the Wright Brothers, maybe even a bit before that. When he mentioned ships to him, Naruto had no problem in understanding that, but something made Deathstroke think that it wasn't the ships of his technology or even previous technology that he was thinking of. He had to be thinking more along the lines of wooden ships once used to colonize other continents.

The real thing that had him troubled was Naruto's reaction to the transport becoming visible when they approached it. He hadn't been all that surprised. And when Deathstroke explained the stealth features Naruto just nodded as though he understood that. And the outfit he wore made Deathstroke wonder that if Naruto was really a ninja by any means like he said, did he have some sort of an ability to become invisible. If so, why wasn't he using it to hide from him? And even then, why didn't he use it to get away from the enemy? Did they have something that could detect cloaked people?

"Where are we?"

Deathstroke smiled. "Right now we're over Portugal, though, if you want to be specific, we currently flying over Setubal. In an hour we'll be submerging to avoid radar detection by the Justice League. Before I came out to find you, I had a one-time virus be planted in the radar detection abilities of the U.N. so that they couldn't monitor this section of airspace. Once we get underwater we'll have no problems except with submarines, but those won't be this far out. This thing is far capable of getting away from anything either faction can throw at it. The only things we have to fear is the Justice League, Atlanteans, and possibly even Lex Luthor. So while we have to worry about them somewhat, we're also in the clear."

Deathstroke realized that Naruto had gotten lost and just decided that there was no point in trying to explain it to him. Honestly, the teen could be somewhat dense or just utterly clueless. In either case he wasn't going to get anything through that thick head of his for a while. Not while he was watching as the ground went passing by.

"I'll explain them to you after we land and get you up to speed."

After forty minutes the ocean came into clear view. Naruto was forced back into his chair shortly before the North Atlantic Ocean came into view because he had somehow managed to get outside their transport and cling to the ceiling while laughing. This little moment gave Deathstroke yet another insight to his abilities. How he got outside Deathstroke didn't know, but it was the fact that he was standing outside while they flew at about two hundred knots.

As soon as they were eighty miles over the ocean Deathstroke began the process of submerging the airship. Though unseen the ship began the transformation without being seen by anyone. Original the ship possessed a sleek form with wings that were folded up and tailfins that were slanted at a thirty-degree angle. When the transformation finished the wings had merged together and were pulled into the slits on the side to give it underwater fins. The two fins on the back fell down and merged with the wings to make the ship look like a perfect diamond arrow.

As soon as the transformation was complete the airplane dove into the water. Naruto lurched against his harness and howled in fear as the window before him suddenly blinked into darkness and was covered by moving metal. As soon as the moment of terror passed, Naruto felt at ease until Deathstroke opened up an image on the window. It was in a mini box and had numbers and words on it that he didn't fully understand. Since when did numbers work with words?

"We'll be at my base of operations in a few hours. In that time, why don't we get you a shower or something? I'm sure you'd like a chance to get cleaned up and something to eat."

The blond perked up at the mention as food and a chance to get cleaned up. He was still covered in blood from the fighting he'd done.

The mercenary gave the blond a smile and gave him the location of the shower. Once Naruto was inside and he could hear the water running he returned to the cockpit and dialed the base. It took it a moment but a connection was made the face of young woman appeared on a small screen.

"Rose, I have the one that was fighting those nine people. Have a room prepared for him."

"_Of course. But we've had a few problems that you should be noted to."_

"I'll read the report when I get back. Right now I'm sending you some data on the boy. His name is Naruto Uzumaki and he's a Japanese descent from a different world. My notes can tell you more. Right now he's taking a shower. Just have a room prepared for him."

He cut the connection and sat back in his chair.

Things were working well beyond what he had first hoped for. Getting Naruto hadn't been nearly as difficult as he had first surmised. And avoiding the Justice League had been a little too easy. There was also the fact that people like Lex Luthor didn't make a play for him.

_No. I'm thinking about Lex all wrong. Lex won't make a move to grab him just yet. By letting me grab him, he's got a chance to watch him and figure him out. No doubt he's already trying to figure stuff out just by watching the news on him. So he has his body height and weight for a good estimation. He's going to watch me and pray to see him. _

Removing his mask, he ran his hand through his hair and tried to think like Lex. Just giving Naruto a suit to hide who he was wouldn't be enough. And alteration to his own form would be needed. And he'd have to make sure he wasn't just hanging around them at all times. Naruto, when in public, if he ever went into public, would have to have someone with him that wore a different face each time. And if they all went, they all had to look completely different and meet up somewhere else and never be seen departing together.

But the real problem wasn't getting Naruto to agree to the idea of joining his team, it was now hiding him. With a limited range on his abilities and knowledge, Naruto was ultimately a big a risk to his group. Plus there was the time they would have to spend teaching him about their technology while going out on missions. Naruto would be trained in the basics of their technology and their field tactics before they could take him out. How long would that even take? With the few surprises he got from him it was possible to have it all done in three or four months if he was lucky. Six months at the latest.

_And I can't show him everything until I know what those people want him for. Whatever they want him for is most likely the main reason I want him. But whatever secret he has won't come out without a little more trust him. He trusts me probably about as far as he can throw me. And considering how strong he is there's no doubt that he can throw me pretty far, but that saying is nothing more than a saying. I doubt he trusts me with his secrets or his life._

Deathstroke flipped a button and watched the hallway for where Naruto was located. If he came out early he would know even without the monitor. Naruto would be found by the motion sensor system that ran through the entire ship.

(-)

Rose Wilson blinked twice as she went over the data that was received from her father. The information was rather staggering. Advanced healing regeneration, super strength and speed, and two confirmed abilities that included cloning and sticking to surface even under extreme condition.

Of course there was also the information on his understanding of their technology. Some of it didn't make any sense to her. How could he be accustomed to a camouflage system but shocked at the idea of flying in a plane? Or how he wasn't shocked to see a gun? Was it possible that his people didn't have flight technology and yet had progressed beyond it? Or did he have an ability that enabled flight? There were too many unknowns.

"So what are we going to do for his room?"

A young man with black hair cut short and dark sunglasses stood against the doorframe wearing dark blue jeans and a brown muscle shirt.

"Jason, what do you think we should do for his room? After all, who better to ask about room arraignments than a fellow man?"

"What were you going to do? Paint it pink and put unicorns in there?"

"No. I was thinking orange."

"Orange? Why?"

"Apparently he likes the color orange."

"Strange guy. Anything else worth noting?"

Rose retrieved a small object and handed it to him. "This is all the information father has collected on him for the moment. You can look it over if you'd like. I have to go get his room ready. They'll be here in a few hours at most."

"And what if they're attacked? Are we to sortie?" He took the object and gave her a quick look over.

Rose smiled and walked out with her jacket flung over her shoulder. Jason sighed and shrugged. There were times that he wondered about her.

(-)

As soon as the information was received, Syrus blinked and decided that life on Earth was strange. It was complicated. It was always shifting into new and illogical paths that paid no mind to the former paths.

Why did humans act so strange at times? Why did the act without reason or logic and fought meaningless battles that only caused pointless deaths? Why did they have to be so… primitive? Was it how they were created? Or was it just something that was in-tuned into their creation as a species?

Syrus honestly didn't know. For all his knowledge and expertise in building things and being an alien from a race that had come together and formed a great unity to bring their world into a grand scheme of ultimate reformation. They had the best technology and lived peaceful lives. So if they could do it, why couldn't humans?

"_Honestly, you're thinking too much on our anatomy and not looking at the bigger picture."_

Syrus pulled himself out from under the terminal he was working on and spied a young female standing over him. Short cut black hair, hazel colored eyes, and wearing a white pair of shorts that showed off her legs and a simple white shirt. She gave him a strange look that was more curious than understanding.

"_Really? Am I looking too deep into the mind of humans, Cassandra?"_

"_Yes. But that's what I like about you." _

Syrus stood up and his silver hair began to itch. He pulled back his goggles to reveal brown eyes that held a welders' eyes. As he scratched at his head he could feel her eyes on him and his form. He was pale in skin color when compared to her. He also wore too many earrings and necklaces. He looked more like a punk than a real mechanic and the man that built all of Deathstroke's technology.

Cassandra looked up at the terminal he was working on and smiled. _"It's online now. Hard to believe Twitchy actually managed to destroy this thing just by looking at it. Are you sure you didn't screw something up on him?"_

"_I've been going over all the battle records, memory records, creation logs, and even the randomly generated thought processing unit. But there are no abnormalities in his system. What's wrong with him shouldn't make him do the things he does. He's offline at the moment. Frenzy is watching over him."_

"_He's been known to come online from of an offline status against your authority. Is it possible he developed a soul?"  
_

Syrus offered a curious look. Again, the subject went back to humans. To his people souls didn't exist. But to the people of Earth they existed. What was a soul in all of its entirety? Was it something that truly connected you be alive or was it just a simply way of saying you were you? It escaped him.

"_I'll go over his logs again, but I don't believe he could have what you humans call a 'soul'. There's no evidence of such a thing."_

Cassandra shrugged and began skimming over the data on the person Deathstroke had gone to find. She wasn't impressed with him. His fighting style was rough and unrefined. His strength was impressive, but he used it like a brute. His intellect was lower on everything else it would seem unless it involved a battle. And there was his choice of clothing and color. He just didn't seem like someone they needed.

Syrus went back under the terminal to continue working. It wasn't like he didn't have anything else better to do. Human interaction was still a hard thing for him. Why bother talking to an inferior species about technology when they couldn't grasp even the most basic of things like unity and understanding? Honestly, humans were stupid creatures.

(-)

Naruto looked back out through the window and smiled.

"Where are we now? And why is so lit up?"

Deathstroke looked over his shoulder to monitor the blond for a moment. As soon as they took back to the sky the teen had seemingly been glued to the window as state after state went past them. Naruto was really nothing more than a kid right now exploring a brand new world. Every little thing he saw he asked about. The questions were fairly simply to explain.

"Right now we're over St. Louis Missouri. It's another state that actually rather nice. We'll be landing soon. And as for the lights, well, most cities don't really ever sleep. New York City is the most common one people refer to as the city that never sleeps. This place is similar. Big named places like this don't really sleep either."

"Why don't they sleep? Can't sleep? Or are they afraid of the bad guys you told me about? The villains?"

"Somewhat, but that's not the real reason. A lot of it is because of the jobs in this area we're passing over. Most of them are smaller jobs that require a night shift so they have people do it. Cops are out to prevent crime as a result of this. And then if you add in the summer travelers it's pretty understandable why this place doesn't really shutdown. The entire U.S. doesn't shut down either. Truckers need to take supplies to other areas and so places like Gas Stations stay open to service them. If the U.S. was to shutdown, even for a day, it would be bad for the government."

"So they don't sleep because of the government?"

"They have other people to work the shifts so that people can sleep. It'd be like me and you working at the same place, on the same shift, but at different days so that we could sleep. Does that make sense?" Naruto nodded. "Any other questions you'd like to ask?"

"What kind of work do you do?"

"That depends on what I'm hired to do. I'm a mercenary. Before this I was a soldier and then I just turned mercenary. I've played the role of the villain a few times."

"So do you kill people?"

"Would you think little of me if I have?"

"No. Where I'm from, we kill people for a living. My sensei told me that our missions can be categorized into four things: protection, assassination, and infiltration and stealing. So killing people is only natural for us."

"Have you ever had to kill someone?"

"Have you?"

Deathstroke dropped the conversation from that point. Naruto was getting heated over that. Obviously he had from the way he was acting. That unnerved Deathstroke only because of the fact on how uptight he suddenly got. Did he kill friendlies or was it that they tried to kill him? Or had he simply gotten tired of the killing and just wanted a way out? That wasn't that hard to believe. Back when the Metahumans first began appearing, major companies tried to find a way to beat them by using normal humans through projects. The most common one was a Superhuman Project. It fell through very quickly, but by the time that the program had fallen through people like Batman, Green Arrow, Superman, and Flash were shown to be able to deal with them in their own unique ways, and those that had been "Enhanced" as some put it, those poor souls were left with no real purpose in life.

And wars were all the same. If you didn't have the stomach for it or did have the drive you could easily fall into a pit and try to get out simply by leaving. Wars were a key thing to Deathstroke. Without wars, soldiers grew lonely and bored. When you spend your entire life fighting and the fighting stops, you're suddenly lost and usually can't reform to the ways of peace. That was why a lot of them returned to the battlefield as villains or heroes that still killed their enemies.

With those thoughts, Deathstroke turned his mind to the blond again. If Naruto was like that, did that mean that the people that were fighting him were trying to destroy him or were they trying to take him back? They certainly fought like they were trying to end him. But at the same time it didn't look like. They weren't truly aiming for vital spots you'd normal aim for. His physiology could have been different, but even then, if you were going to kill someone you don't aim for spots like an arm or a leg. You aim for the heart, kidneys, lungs, jugular, head, and the spleen. They didn't aim for any of those spots.

So what really was the reason those people were chasing after him? Did he have something that they wanted or did he kill someone or capture someone that they needed or wanted? If he had something, what could he have had? If he had something like a piece of jewelry, mechanical power source of some sort or weapon, Deathstroke was certain that he would have noticed it by now. And since they came from a different world or dimension he could have had something that Deathstroke wouldn't know what it was.

"What do you do?"

Deathstroke looked him over for a moment before answering. "I'm a mercenary. What do you do?"

"I'm a shinobi."

"Ninja? That's interesting. You honestly don't look like a ninja." Didn't he remember that he told him that already? Maybe he was just forgetful.

Naruto gave him a funny look and the masked man decided that the topic could honestly be put to a real debate here in their world. Batman was a prime example of that. That man was supposedly trained by ninjas and he even fought like a ninja. And there were a few of his enemies that could honestly be ninjas. There was also the League of Shadows. So in their world, a ninja could dress like either a modern person or someone that wore a cybernetic suit that gave them some ungodly enhancement.

Deathstroke decided that it was time to take things in a new turn. They'd be in Utah soon and he needed to get Naruto situated. He didn't strike him as the type to enjoy a good scare.

"Your replication ability? Can everyone do it?"

Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment then shrugged. "Some can. Not many can do it because it's a Kinjutsu."

_Kinjutsu…? What does that translate too…Forbidden Skill? Why would a skill be forbidden? _"Why is that?"

"It can kill the user."

Wilson got quiet after that. _So he has a skill that can kill him? Why use it then?_

He dropped the topic and began focusing on the task at hand. How was he going to get information out of him concerning those people that attacked him? He wasn't really opening up, but that wasn't understandable. So how could he do it?

Naruto pointed at something on the screen and said, "What's that?"

The mercenary looked interested. "That's a radar. It works by sending out high pitched waves out and coming back if they hit something could cause a ping. Any blimp that appears on there is a moving object that could be an enemy. Any aircraft that we have that is an alley will appear as a blue blimp on it while red wound mean an enemy. Most aircrafts don't have this advanced of a feature because of who built this thing for us. This entire thing was built by a friend of mine. You'll meet him if you join my squad." Naruto grunted. "You don't like the idea of a team, do you?"

"No."

"Why?"

Naruto was silent.

Wilson clenched his jaw. If Naruto was the type of person that had issues with others, he had to have a good reason. He said that he had friends at one point. Did they betray him? Were they part of his squad and just decided to turn on him? Why would they betray him? Were those nine people from before someone that he was close to him? Were they friends to him? Did they betray him? Did it have anything for that weird red power he used? Was it natural for all of them? They didn't use it.

_No point in asking him, _he thought.

It was several hours later that they appeared in Utah. Naruto asked questions about the place as he seemed to know when they were over a different state just by looking at the landscape. He had a pretty good eye.

"I need you to sit down and strap in. This is going to be a bit tricky." Slade got up and helped him in. Naruto watched him carefully as he was strapped in. Once Slade was done, he turned and strapped himself in as well. "No matter what happens, don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

Slade took up the controls and the ship dipped down. The window changed and a set of rectangles appeared over the entire thing. Naruto pointed at it, but Slade didn't respond. "It's a flight path, " he finally answered. The blond looked sated by that.

The masked man returned to the controls and tried to ignore the desire to ask him more questions. It wasn't enough. He needed more information on the boy and the only way to get it was the ask questions. He couldn't do that now. He needed to focus on the task at hand. He flipped switches, pressed buttons, and began the process of getting ready for docking. He took one turn around a mountain and then began slowing down while they flew straight for a mountain. Naruto seemed confused by this. Slade didn't make the plane move out of its path.

Naruto inched deeper in his seat and let out a small scream as they went through the mountain. He checked his form over and noted that he wasn't dead. Slade looked perfectly normal. Seeing his calm features made him feel at ease. It took them several minutes before they came to a stop in a well-lit metal structure. Slade called it a hanger. That escaped the blond but he was willing to accept it for the time being.

"This way," Slade ordered. Naruto looked around more than he actually listened. It took him a few minutes before he was standing beside him in the hallway of a metallic room. "This is a secondary base. I won't be bringing you in to the main base for obvious reasons." Slade checked his PDA and found the room that was set up for Naruto. He clicked a few buttons and the metal door slid open. "This is your room. If it's not set to your tastes, let me know and I'll have it changed immediately."

The blond stuck his head in. Slade did as well. He wasn't sure what he was expecting for the room. It was kind of impressive for something that had been set up on such short notice. It was given a Japanese theme with orange painted walls, a large bed in one corner of the room, a dresser with a mirror, and a bathroom off to the side. Wooden floors clashed with the metal hallway, but Slade wasn't going to say anything about it. Naruto didn't have anything to say either. The orange bed was about the only thing he had his eyes on.

"If you need anything just hit this button." Deathstroke showed him the button in question and then left.

The door hissed shut. Naruto didn't pound away on it. Instead he opened it like Slade had, which meant he was a fast learner. Naruto just opened and shut the door for a few seconds until Slade grunted and he stopped. After that he ventured off to bed. Slade just shook his head and returned to the commander center for the base.

He ran his hand over a metal structure a wave of lights kicked on. A keyboard materialized from the light with a dozen screens popping up as well. Some of them showed Naruto's room. The teen was in the process of checking it over. He wasn't stupid. He was checking for bugs. Smart kid, but sadly he wasn't going to find them. If Syrus wanted it to be found, it'd be found. No questions asked.

"_Reviewing the data now." _

Slade grabbed a cup of coffee and waited for the other monitors to turn on.

"_So how does he take to his room? Is it to his liking?"_

"Of course it is, Syrus. You went over the data already, right?"

"_Of course… I've already gone over it three times and come up with my own theory on the attack, the source of his abilities, why he speaks an older dialect, and why he can heal himself the way he does."_

Slade arched a thin brow and turned his attention to the other monitor. Naruto was tinkering with the buttons again. He wasn't calling for help. He was just looking around.

"_His blood work shows a strange energy in it that I've yet to isolate. However, it does react strangely with other materials around it. All forms of it have already left his blood work that you sent me. Information on this energy is still pending. We could ask him about it." _Slade remained quiet. _"His level of understanding technology is strange. How can someone have an understanding of guns that you described for me and not flight, yet have a complete understanding of cloaking technology? That part puzzles me."_

"_However, there is the strength he possesses. I'll need more information before that can be answered. His rejuvenation doesn't seem to be genetic. In the blood samples you sent there was nothing there to mark it. I believe it's an ability he has to turn on through some form. But it doesn't appear to be genetic in nature."_

"_Can you give it a rest?" _Slade took a drink of his coffee again as Jason and Rose came online for the meeting. There was no point in having Cassandra. She knew everything by being mentally linked with Syrus. _"Did we set his room up to his liking?"_

"He didn't voice any complaints." Slade turned his one eye on the monitor that showed the room in question. Naruto wasn't messing with the door anymore. He was sitting in the middle of the room guru style and meditating or something. Slade didn't know what he was doing. "He's a strange fellow."

"_He just appeared in fifty different sections in the base."_

"It's his replication ability. He can't get in to this room. I've locked it down. Vents are too small for him to get in through them as well. Let him explore the place. He has a good reason not to trust me. He said something about me looking like a man that those nine people killed." Slade paused to think on that topic for a moment. _Come to think of it. Didn't he call them something? He knew who and what they were. _"Syrus. Run a check on any known groups called "Akatsuki" and see what it turns up. He called them t that?"

"_He's appearing in more than a hundred places now. And there is nothing on a group called by that name in any translation." _Syrus gave a noticeable pause. _"His replication ability is said to cause death in people, correct?"_

"According to what he told me; yes. Why?"

"_He must have been lying. He's created well over two hundred replicas and each replica possesses a body heat signature, pulse, breaths, and two of them are looking for food. Translation for his topics is about food, checking the place out, recon work, and five of them seem to be talking about you, Slade. My drones can't keep up with him. I'm only able to monitor half of them. Diverting more resources into the division software for the tracking drones."_

The two teens and one alien began discussing this new development quickly. Slade turned in on his mind for answers. _Each one has a pulse, meaning they have a heartbeat. Two of them are looking for food, which means that the original Naruto, which is probably in his room, is hungry and can eat through them. No. That can't be. They vanish in a cloud of smoke. Unless they can eat and return it to him through that method, I'm not looking at something that gives him food, but something else. _

He consulted the monitors again and went old school. What monitors could find the clones were very far and few between. He could only find twenty-five of them. So the others were hiding and doing recon work through the shadows. Slade almost felt proud to have found him first.

_With so many of them off my radar, that can only mean that he's just getting a layout of the land. He's curious, doesn't trust me. He's looking for things to use against me. But this number… If he wanted to kill me, he'd have charged this place already. If these things report back to him, it'd take all night to go through what they find. If he's connected to them mentally, that'd be a different story. But having that many voices in your head telling you what they find is unreasonable. Syrus said there weren't that many aliens that can do something like that. So that means that he's going to get the information through another method. _

"Syrus," Slade said quickly, cutting them off. "Is it possible that it that with the way his replication ability works for them to transmit information back to the original when go up in a cloud of smoke?"

"_You say that like he lit himself on fire," _Jason pointed out.

"_It is theoretically possible. But no information has even been brought forward on this to my knowledge. No alien species has this ability and no metahuman either."_

"But it is possible?"

"_In theory; yes. But you're looking at a way of transmitting something that another person learned without it going through any known methods of sending or receiving information. In human terms, you're asking for wireless internet with dialup from the eighties."_

_Can that actually be how he's going to get all this information back on what they're doing? He'd have so many thoughts running through his head if they all dispersed at the same time that it might kill him. He'd have to get rid of them slowly to avoid a backlash. Then again; with his healing ability and his level of combat that was shown on the news, it's possible that his mind is so developed that he could withstand such a force. Is that why the skill is dangerous? The user would have to be either very smart or someone with enough battle sense to handle such a huge amount of knowledge in one instance._

"_They vanished." _Slade looked up. _"The other two hundred and thirty-nine heartbeats that were in the area all vanished. Naruto's is the only remaining one… Wait. There are five more in his room. They all vanished in a cloud of smoke matching your description. My cameras froze when this happened. A delay in their understanding was the cause of the glitch. Strange…Naruto is asleep now. His brainwaves confirm this." _Syrus paused and his face twisted into a look of confusion. _"There was a massive spike his brainwaves just before he went to sleep."_

"_How big are we talking?" _Rose asked.

"_It was higher than Slade's during combat."_

"_Higher than Slade's for a half a second?" _

"_Yes. It would have possibly killed any normal person, but the duration was so low that might have actually been survivable. No human has ever gone that high with them in recorded history."_

"What are the five replicas doing right now? I can't monitor them."

There was a noticeable pause from the alien teen before he said, _"They're watching over him. My cameras were having a hard time getting a fix on them. Monitoring him is going to be impossible until I can make changes to their programming."_

"How long will that take?"

"_A few hours."_

"Get it done."

"_What the hell is this?" _

Slade gave his daughter a hard look. The metallic table warmed and then a series of images appeared. He easily recognized them as images of the human body. Cardiovascular System, Musculoskeletal System, Nervous System, and another system that ran through his body. It didn't work or run like the rest of the bodily functions most people had. This up close look provided another theory to be possibly accurate.

This new system ran through his entire body. Parts of the other systems in the body were linked to it and couldn't be pulled from the three dimensional image they rendered for each system. It might have appeared as a normal system or one of the other systems to an untrained person. The only way to truly spot it was that at the gut it coiled around tightly, and the arms and legs also had parts that connected to other parts like bridges connecting two landmasses together.

"_This system is giving off the same energy that his blood work had." _Syrus looked puzzled. _"This system is actually _giving _off the energy. It's leaving his body and evaporating. It doesn't give off any form of radiation and doesn't appear like something you can be contaminated by. Just to be on the safe side, I recommend that you don't make physical contact with him."_

"Already done that."

"_Then scan yourself right now for me, please."_

The mercenary did as instructed. The large room was a lot of things. It was a kitchen, command center, medical bay, and could even be a living room. Slade tore off his shirt, mask, and gloves. No point in taking of his pants. He lied down on the scanner that that was provided and felt the thing heat up. A red beam of light washed over him and ran over his form three times before it was shut off. He threw his shirt back on and walked over to where the others were waiting for the report.

"_You're not contaminated."_

"I figured on that." He tapped a few buttons and shook his head. Naruto was already back up and looking for something. "I'm going to go have a talk with Naruto. Keep going over the data that's been provided and help me watch him. Learn what you can. I know he doesn't trust me, but he has at least some understanding that he's not home and has no idea on how things work here."

The screen blinked off.

Slade inhaled deeply and walked towards Naruto's room. He took his weapons off and placed them in the storage and sealed them up. He checked the room over and smiled as he shut it. He locked it up and continued for Naruto's room. When he got to the room, Naruto was sitting on the bed and staring at him as he entered.

"I know that you've got those replicas in this room right now." Naruto blinked. _Forgot he can't understand English. _"Listen, I have a device that will enable you to understand what I'm saying a lot easier. Japanese isn't my best language. Would you like to make things easier for the both of us?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed on him. He summoned up another replica. "On him."

Slade had no problem with that. This would work as a way for more information on him.

The device in his hand was a small black collar. It reminded Naruto of his own radios back home. The replica stepped forward and allowed Slade to put it on him. He fiddled with the earpiece and then fixed the strap around his neck before looking at Slade. "How does this work?"

"I can understand you better now."

The clone blinked and tapped the earpiece a few times. "How does this work? Why do you speak differently?"

"I'm speaking English, but the device translates what I say into a language you understand. This is also something my friend created. We take what we know about our own language and worked it with yours. You speak an older dialect of Japanese that's no longer used. So the device was programed to use that and can translate what I say directly to you. I have one as well and it was doing the same for me."

The original walked over the clone and said something to it. The clone shrugged and then took it off. Slade watched as it put it on him and then vanished in a cloud of smoke. Naruto stood a little straighter and blinked a few times. "Why make something like this? You said that people spoke the same language yet now you say that my language is an older dialect that's no longer in use. Why make something if there are only two known languages?"

_So he does get the knowledge of what they learn. Unless he already knows how to speak English? Good acting if he does. _"How do you know that if you can't speak English?"

Naruto tapped his head. "Clones that I create and then die grant me the knowledge they learned. It's why I know what you said."

"How does it work?" Naruto shrugged. Slade somehow got the feeling that Naruto really didn't know. He just learned it and didn't know how it worked. That sounded about right for him. "I know that you've already checked the place over. So I imagine you know where the kitchen is. Feel free to use it if you wish. I have a weight room for training down the hall. I have work to attend to. If you need anything at all, just hit the button I showed you earlier and I'll answer it."

The blond chewed on his tongue a bit then said, "They'll be coming for me."

"That group that you told me about?"

"Yes."

"If you want my help, I'll gladly give it to you. All I ask in return is you joining my team." Naruto made a face that showed indifference. "I'll leave you alone to think about it. Either way, you're going to need someone the help you understand this world. I'm willing to help." Naruto sat back down on the bed and began fiddling with the device he had strapped to his neck while Deathstroke walked off. Once the door was shut he placed another small device in his free ear and said, "Meeting in the Hologram Room."

He keyed it off and sighed heavily. Something didn't feel right.

(-)

Pein surveyed the team with an impassive face. How did this even happen? He quite sure that it had been the work of a dozen Ninjutsu being used at once, but there was also the strange backlash of Madara's jutsu right before he died. That hadn't escaped Pein. Madara's strange Ninjutsu to appear wherever he wanted and make him intangible had to be responsible for this. Was it possible he was still alive somewhere?

"What have you to report?"

Itachi coughed into a fist. Part of it came back speckled red. How much time did he even have left? "These people speak a different language than us. So I can't understand what they're saying. Not even with my Sharingan." A murmur ran through them. Only one of them seemed pleased by that. "However, I have noticed that they have a different level of equipment than what we had back home… or wherever or whenever that was. Our home doesn't have this kind of stuff. And I'd say that the entire populace can't use Chakra like we can or has abilities like those people we fought before."

_Troubling, _Pein thought with a groan. If this was Madara's doing, he'd kill him again for this. _I wanted to realize I permanent peace… you only wanted to destroy things. _"This is only a minor setback. We can still achieve our objective if we capture the Kyuubi. We need more information. After that attack by those strange people we lost him. We need to find him again and then find a way back home. Finding him might give us the power we need to return. Back make all haste. Travel in teams and try not to get sighted by those odd people. Don't fight them. Our target is only Uzumaki Naruto."

Three of them grumbled, but the remaining four just grunted as they left. The cover of darkness would do them wonders for the time being. It was time to go dark.

Pein gave out a low huff and looked over his shoulder. "Konan, we have a problem."

"I'm aware. This world is-"

"No. That is a problem, but I can feel my chakra leaving my system. It's slow, but it is leaving."

"Are you sure?"

"Not sure. But it feels like it's leaving me. I can't be certain." He clinched his fist. "I don't know if it's my imagination or not, but if it's truly leaving us, than Uzumaki Naruto's chakra will be leaving him as well. We must find him before that happens, less the Kyuubi leave his body and reform somewhere else."

Pein glanced at the moon. It was so much bigger than their own moon back home. _I wonder if they have a Juubi imprisoned up there like we do._


	2. E-057 and E-058

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

From the minds of TheHumanWiki and Myevltwin

Chapter 2

Slade watched Naruto as he watched the news. He didn't seem startled by a television, though he did ask where the tape was. Slade tried to explain satellites to him and what they did, but he didn't have much luck. Naruto didn't understand something that strange. Mentioning anything about radio waves that could transmit images to a television was beyond him. Slade could kind of grasp that one. Televisions didn't just start out like they were now. It was all movies and big pictures without sound. So Naruto not understanding a television like the one he was watching wasn't that hard to believe.

Two weeks with the blond proved nothing of value. He was shut off from the rest of the world. He did it to himself.

Jason theorized that he might have been betrayed, rejected, or just did something that someone else didn't like and hadn't been looked upon greatly after it. He acted like he did one of those things. It was eating Slade up just about as much as was the blond it would seem, because any time he managed to sneak up on Naruto or catch him on the monitors he acted like he was depressed, and not over being here. Whatever happened to him was affecting him even now.

Slade could truly grasp what might be the problem: Betrayal. But he didn't feel that was the real thing. Maybe it was and he wasn't looking at him right. He didn't even know Naruto that well. He was still alien to him. All he knew was what he'd learned so far. Naruto had another biological system of some sort in his body that produced an evaporating energy, he ate ramen, he could make replicas of himself, and his level of understand with technology was very low. Slade doubted that if he put him out on his own he'd last two days before being thrown in jail of having the cops after him for another thing that didn't involve destroying a city.

Naruto might not understand what they were saying, but with that device he did understand them in his language. Handy thing, but Slade really wanted to break it from time to time. It was too good at what it did and would often mistake a name for something else when translated back to him. Slade had to ask about the Akatsuki in Japanese or Naruto ended up hearing something else. The system didn't understand it and translated it back as something else when he said "Red Dawn" or "Red Clouds" to him in English.

"…concludes our report on the weather. Back to you, Connie."

"Thank you, Tim. The Justice League have made an official statement on the attack in Tulcea and have stated that the ten people that attacked it have not been found as of yet. If you have information on them, you are to report it directly to your local Government so they can get in contact with the Justice League and deal with them. We only have the faces of three right now, but anyone seen wearing these outfits are to be reported immediately."

Naruto's grip on the remote tightened. It cracked under the pressure.

One image was a man well in his twenties. He had onyx eyes, peach skin, black hair with bangs that framed his face and a ponytail that was tied low, and reached into his upper back. The next image was a teenage boy with wide brown eyes, and short, red hair. Slade remembered seeing him a lot on the news because he was controlling/manipulating a hundred wooden dolls at once. The last image was Naruto himself. His scars on his cheeks were thickened, looking more like giant scars than thin scars, his eyes were crimson with slitted pupils, and his canines were lengthened, making them look like fangs.

Slade clicked the television off and looked at the blond as he continued to growl. He truly wanted to know who those people were, but Naruto was obviously important to them, so that made him important to him as well. Plus, he had that strange red power. They didn't use that. Sure a few of them for what was shown displayed strange powers in their own right. No one had been able to get good images on the other members that had appeared and fought in the battle.

"You okay?"

Naruto returned to normal, or as best as Slade knew for normal with him, and stood up.

"Why are those guys after you?" Slade decided to be blunt.

"They're idiots with false ideals."

Wilson licked his lips and decided to drop it. That was enough for him to understand a small piece of what might be the problem with him. Naruto sure didn't seem like the type to open up to people, but had the appearance of someone that was once the life of the party and smiled a lot. Now with the way he acted it was like he was lost and confused.

Naruto left Slade standing there and walked into his room. The door hissed shut and the blond jumped on the bed. He wrapped himself in his memories and came back empty on how he got here in this strange world. It didn't make sense to him, not that he cared. He wasn't interested in returning home. Why go back to a place of pain and death when you could avoid it? He could live here; maybe even make a new life for himself. Why did they do that to him anyways?

He rolled over in his bed and howled with anger.

The Jinchuuriki was angry over the whole thing concerning the masked man. Why had the Akatsuki killed him? Did they really kill him to begin with? He could make himself intangible. Naruto remembered that kunai and shuriken slipped right through him. Ninjutsu didn't hit him either. Right when the battle had started back home they had focused Tobi in an instant. All members turned on him and killed him while fighting Naruto. That had been Kakuzu, Hidan, and Kisame's job. All other members had turned their attention on the masked man. Hundreds of Ninjutsu had been fired all at one point, all aimed for the two as they had fought to survive that strange fight. Naruto didn't even understand it now. He remembered feeling intense pain, blackness, and then they went right back to fighting, only this time they were all focusing him.

_Is he even dead? _The teen hissed a curse and sat up in his bed.

A knock at his door had him snapping at it when it hissed open. Slade stood in the doorframe just staring at him.

"You okay?"

"Why am I still here?"

"You can leave if you want. I can show you the door." The blue eyed boy sat a little straighter and looked confused. "I admit that you are of great interest to me and I'd like to have you on the team I'm building, but I'm very much aware of the fact that you are," Slade paused as if to think about the right choice of words, "…lost. But do you really want to leave? You don't know how to work any of the technology that we have. You have no home, though I could provide you with one and some money for the time being until you find a job."

"Then why keep me here?"

"I'm not keeping you here. You can leave right now if you want. I'll even lead you out. I just figured that you would want help in making a life for yourself here where you aren't being chased by those nine people."

Naruto blinked a few times then shrugged as he picked up his coat and slung it over his shoulder. Slade just smiled and lead the way. Naruto didn't know jack about this world. He would return. It was an easy thing to set up anyways. A few calls and a wad of money for the blond and then he was off. Naruto never even once looked back.

The door to the secret base shut and Slade smiled.

"You're letting him go just like that?"

Jason stood behind him, arms crossed.

"Why him? There were nine other people you could have made this proposal to, and yet you choose him and now you're letting him leave? Why? You spent two days hunting him down."

"Jason, not everything is clean cut. He doesn't think this world is cruel, or maybe he does. But the point is that he can't work our technology. Everything he had access to, was at the basic level. Things people keep in their homes. And he couldn't truly work them."

"But still…"

"He's just a little lost and needs time to find himself. I think he's just stubborn and is used to relying on others for help. It might be that he was once a good person, but turned sour after something befell him. No matter, he will return."

Jason looked unconvinced.

(-)

"Take a look at this."

Batman looked up over the monitors where Flash was tapping another one with a pencil. He acted like an idiot to keep the team together. He did it for fun, which everyone knew, but when things got hot, he was a reliable person. Batman just didn't like the idiot attitude he had at times. It was a something that just bugged him. He liked him better this way when he was just being a scientist that actually knew what was going on.

The Dark Knight got out of his chair and stalked over to where Flash was. He continued to tap the monitor and then looked up when the caped crusader was standing over his shoulder.

What he was looking at was a chunk of the earth that had been taken from the spot where the fighting had taken place. From the way the fighting had progressed, a great deal of damage had been done, but new things had appeared from it all. A wall of earth had been erected that was fifteen meters tall and two feet thick. It was a solid earth. In another part of Tulcea, foreign rocks were found and were still be analyzed because of the way they reacted to certain things around the world. And there were the rocks that had been subjected to all the magical attacks. Nothing was being left alone. HAZMAT teams had even been dispatched where thunderstorms and other weather anomalies were still happening.

The rock in question was actually one that had been subjected to intense bombardment from their attacks. Looking at the rock, it looked like a normal, everyday rock.

The scans proved otherwise.

"This rock has a higher molecular level than any other rock. It also has increase in its density, meaning this will be harder to break than most. It's still easy, but it's like saying Limestone can stop a high caliber bullet. This rock can take a beating higher than what it normally could. You could even say this is a new breed of rock. And the strange energy was trapped inside and is being released into the air. It appears to be evaporating instantly, leaving nothing behind. It's not a form of radiation and it looks like it takes an extremely high amount of it to contaminate anything. Meaning that if you stood next to thing all day, you won't get contaminated by it."

"What about the people that had been in the area of the attack? Is it possible that they've been contaminated?"

The speedster shrugged. "I'm not sure. It is possible they've been contaminated by it, but it looks like it leaves anything that's contaminated very fast. The only reason this rock still has any is probably because of its size. This thing was very big, the size of a transmission for a semi. Just getting in here was a chore and we had to break it down into something smaller for scanning. The rest of it might have left it already since the other pieces were considerably small."

Batman sat down and thought about that.

When the strange lights had appeared just before the fighting started, a large landmass that was five kilometers just appeared out of nowhere and struck down on part of Tulcea. This area was under heavy guard. Not even the Justice League was allowed near the spot. Other governments were already looking in to it and were even trying to sneak in to get a piece of the land that had appeared. Two countries were already in trouble for sending in teams to get anything they could from the landmass while a third was being put on the spot for potential theft and the death of three people.

There had been no images of the landmass when it appeared, only stories. Some people explained it as a massive object just floating in the sky before it just fell like strings had been cut from it. Other said that it appeared like magic on the ground already like it was part of the world already.

The very center of the strange landmass was actually heavily contaminated with the strange energy, but at the rate this rock was giving it off it was likely that it was nearing the end of its life. This rock would soon become just like any other rock: cold and malleable.

"There is something strange about the properties of each rock that we found, though." Batman inclined one eyebrow from behind his mask. "Of all the rocks that we've acquired, there are five major differences in the energy reading and with the way they reacted with certain elements we probed them with. This one regained a lot of its energy but began to lose it at an accelerated rate when we probed it with anything electrical. When we tested the stones that had been subjected to their fire magic, they, too were experienced the same thing. It's possible they feed off certain elements like fire, water, lightning, and earth."

"Which would explain why a few of the softer rocks that were subjected to these strange powers became sturdier," Batman finished. There was still the problem of these people. If they used certain elements of magic for their fighting styles and this energy could be supercharged or regained through the use of their aligned element, then they might be able to do it as well. If they were run out could they actually drain whatever they needed for their power and recharge their own.

"However, given the amount of power we're talking about just for a small recharge is near extreme. Even some of the villains that feed off electrical energy can't handle this amount. We could be looking at it backwards and that they'd need less energy to recharge where as a rock would take twice as much." Somehow, Flash sounded very certain of that fact. "These people used different types of attacks using the four main elements."

"I believe there were six elements used." Flash licked his teeth and glanced at the Dark Knight. "We can assume there were more elemental magic we didn't see, but we saw fire, water, earth, and lightning. I imagine that they used wind and there was the one with the piercings that had the power over gravity or telekinesis. We also know that two of them used puppets, one that used wooden puppets and the other that used black figured objects. The second one could actually allow his puppets to use various elements."

Flash sighed explosively. He didn't like the idea of these people any more than anyone else did, but if they could use more than just elemental magic, then they just grew a bit higher on the threat level. This was going to be a long night.

(-)

Naruto stared at the money in his hands. He didn't understand it. Each piece of paper had a face on it with a series of numbers and letters he didn't recognize. The one he was holding had a five with a zero behind it. He didn't understand what it was or what it represented. He just pocketed it and continued on his way.

Utah was a strange place. It was a state inside of America and the place he was at was a city called Salt Lake City. The city was rather big, but Naruto could traverse it in a few minutes if he wanted. It was in the middle of winter, yet it wasn't that cold. Without the wind nipping at his flesh the winter chill didn't really affect him. The mountains blocked the wind and prevented it from freezing out the people. The only real downside to this place as far Naruto understood was that the air was contaminated from chemicals plants that only affected people when it rained, thus the people drank more bottle water than straight from the plants they had.

He roamed around for the first day just looking for something to clear his mind. Nothing made sense to him. He was utterly lost, but he didn't really care for the time being. He was still coming to terms with the world around him.

"Hey!"

The blond stopped and turned. A man in a blue uniform that appeared black in the shadow of the building he was next to walked up to him.

"Where's your coat, kid?"

"Leave me alone."

"Excuse me, kid? Hey! Are you alright?" He put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, but he shrugged it off. "Is there something wrong, kid?"

"No. Now leave me alone. I'm fine."

The man sighed explosively and waved him off with an angry expression. "Damn tourists."

The blond grumbled a curse and began walking down the street again. He stuffed his hands in his pockets as the cold began to nip at him. Even without the wind, temperatures below freezing still affected anyone. He was no exception to that rule. No matter how much training he had it would eventually not matter. The toughest people in the world can only handle so much before the body breaks down.

Naruto ventured into a shop and began looking for something to eat. He didn't recognize any of the food. His stomach growled anyways and he decided that anything that looked like food was a good call. He grabbed up several bars of something he couldn't read, a few bags of something crunchy, and the some chicken from a hotbox. He gave up the bill he had been looking at earlier. The man behind the counter gave him back several more notes and some coins.

The entire thing was hard for him to take in.

"You're not from around here."

The blond nodded mutely.

"I just moved here a few months ago from Ireland. Nice place. My father came here for the work, but America isn't all that it's cracked up to be. It's a good place to live, for sure, but when you come here believing that it is easy going, it's actually very hard for you in the end. This is a great place if you can stake your roots, but it's still hard."

"I've noticed."

His food was sacked and then he walked out. Naruto didn't know where to go. He ventured from alleyway to alleyway in search of some form of shelter from the cold winter. Nothing he found proved useful to him. He couldn't find his place that Slade set up for him, not that he was really going to use it. He wanted to make his own life here. Slade had procured for him a mask that hid who he really was while giving him a face. Like in the Elemental Nations, a change in just your face could actually make you invisible to the world.

It wasn't until the second day that Naruto realized something. He couldn't actually work or understand anything in this world and actually needed help. He was sitting on a park bench when the realization actually hit him. The same man from before that had worn the dark suit had once again found him and started talking to him. Naruto had at first just ignored him, but when he tried to put his hand on him, Naruto had instantly lashed out, shoving him away.

"Kid, you do realize I'm a cop, right?"

"What's a cop?"

The man stood up, grabbing a pair of metal bands. "Hands on your head," he ordered.

"Why would I do that?"

"I'm placing you under arrest for loitering and assaulting a police officer."

"I still don't understand."

Instead of doing as instructed, Naruto just stood up and walked off. A heavy weight struck him in the back. He stumbled forward and turned around quickly. The cop had decided to tackle him but couldn't do it. Naruto had stuck himself to the ground and made it so that he couldn't be knocked down. The cop wasn't prepared for this and slid all the way down his body before eating concrete. Naruto, confused over the whole thing, knelt down and pulled the man up to his feet.

"Why did you do that?"

"I'm a cop and you're resisting arrest!"

The blond blinked and shrugged before he continued on his path. The cop stood there dumbfounded over it all. Technically, Naruto hadn't assault him. He was rude and had shoved him away. He decided in the end to just let him go. No one was around so it was okay for the time being. He could do a lot of things, but if the kid had been hiding anything, he couldn't force it out of him. He'd have to come clean on his own.

Naruto stopped next to another building and then marched into the alleyway. He found a small spot and sat down next to a source of warmth. It was a vent of some kind and was blasting warm air. It was more than enough to stave off the cold. Shivering, he pulled himself in the fetal position and closed his eyes. "I really do need help here." He sighed and went to sleep.

(-)

"_How'd the mission go?"_

Jason turned just enough to see Rose fiddling with her rifle. About the only real damage had been done to her. She got a small cut when one of the guards pulled a knife out on them and tried to stab her. He failed to hit anything vital, but a cut was a cut to her.

"We did okay. Rose got a small cut, but I'm sure she's fine."

"I chipped a nail if you want me to be girly about this."

Jason laughed and turned back to the monitor. Slade didn't look like he was giving them his full attention.

Jason Todd, a former Robin of Batman, often wondered why Slade did what he did. Soldier turned mercenary wasn't an uncommon thing. With no war to fight or those that were just enhanced for the sake of fighting Metahumans, they didn't have anywhere else to go but into a business such as this. Being a hero for a soldier was just too much work. Fighting an enemy and not killing them was a waste. Being a villain for no other reason than to just kill was a little absurd unless they were seriously tweaked in the head. So being a mercenary where you got paid for doing what your skills were set for wasn't such a bad thing to them.

Jason had been recruited shortly after his parents had died and he was taken in by Batman. He didn't like how things were run and knew that deep down, Batman didn't like the fact that he was trying to be a replica of his former sidekick. So he struck out on his own and then literally struck out. He got in too deep. Slade came to his rescue, pulled him out of the fire, and recruited him. When Jason had asked why, he admitted to not having a reason. He simply saved him because he was in the area and the people he was fighting were his targets.

It took months of intense training, but Jason had become something serious. Batman didn't seem to grieve over his loss though. He turned back to Robin and the two teamed up again. But they broke up again and Dick was now in charge of Teen Titans in Jump City.

Like Slade, each member wore a special suit designed for their combat style. Jason was close to mid-range combat. His suit was a bit more heavily plated than Rose's. Everyone's suits started off the same. Underneath the armor they wore a skinsuit that was made of a moisture-absorbing synthetic material that felt like soft leather. It was made to actually keep them warm in winter conditions and cool during summer conditions. Though this wasn't the case because Jason just couldn't understand how it fully worked. But he did know that it prevented him from getting too hot and to cold.

After that it was all designed for their needs.

Jason's armor covered everything. It covered the groin, outer thighs, knees, shins, chest, shoulder, and forearms. Each piece fit over the other, making it hard for a knife wound of any kind. The only parts not fully protected were around the hips right, his armpits, and his fingers. His armor was a third of an inch thick, providing excellent protection from bullets. Each piece of armor plating he wore showed where they were bolted on his body. Bolted wasn't the correct word. The suit he wore beneath the armor had metal slots on them for where the armor was placed. They were, for lack of a better word, bolted to him.

His head was covered by a thick helmet that provided him with everything and anything he wanted. It came with COMs systems and a radar system, though he didn't like it and often switched it off. Syrus made some good tech, but the radar system would go off on just about anything, playing hell with him all the time. His had fins on the side that pointed strait up like ears and a black polarized visor.

Rose wore a little less armor on her suit. Her armor only covered her chest, shoulders, forearms, and shins. The lack of armor was more for her own private uses. She was their long-range support. She could fight up close, mid-range, or from long-range, but she mostly stuck to mid and long-range support for them. Her head was also protected by a helmet that had the same functions as everyone else's. However, her helmet, like her armor, was sleeker and looked more like it was all built around her. It was a large black visor with three red lines formed off the sides where her ears where and her jaw was. The whole thing was polarized black and gave her a much bigger view of everything around her.

Cassandra's suit wore a lighter variant of his armor that was thinner, lighter, and covered all the major parts of her body. Her suit was similar to Rose's suit, but the only feature that was different was that on the back was a metallic pack that could be removed if needed and worked as a glider system. She was their main stealth and infiltrator for their team. Her helmet was like Rose's, but the full front of it was a visor where the leading edges of the metal wrapped around the visor to form teeth.

"Other than that, we're fine."

"_Good to hear. I want you three to return to this base. I have some things to wrap up."_

The monitor showing Slade blinked off.

Jason turned, holding his helmet under his arm. He made a questioning look at the platinum haired girl. She shrugged. When words alone didn't work, body language told it all. It was probably one of the only real good things he enjoyed about working with them all the time. They didn't operate like a normal group that came together to do a few things and then part ways. They actually lived together, acting more like a family than a mercenary unit.

Cassandra walked in, looked the two over, and then took her spot in the Co-Pilot seat next to Syrus.

"Any ideas on why he wants that kid to join our team?"

Million dollar question to the four. Syrus didn't even know why, though he could easily come up with his own theories on the whole reason.

"I asked him a few days ago but he didn't have any answer for me. I think he wants him because those nine other people want him. Anything someone else wants is something he wants… But I don't think that's the case here. Naruto showed a high level of battle smarts, a high level of combat skills, and he can use magic. We don't have a magic user of any kind on this team unless we look into the art of making miracles. Does that count as magic?"

"The vote is still out on that one."

Jason brought his helmet up to his face and stared at the thing visor. He could easily see his reflection.

"I'm more curious about that red power he used," Syrus cut in. "His body doesn't emit a red energy like what was shown in the news. He also doesn't seem to use as much magic as we believed. If you take a look at the attacks he used that were magic based, there were only two altogether. There was his replication ability and that blue ball he formed."

"He threw it once, though." Rose pointed out.

"Indeed," Jason whispered. That had been a real eye catcher for him. The amount of destruction was real eye catching for everyone. Jason didn't know a lot about magic, but he didn't figure that there was anything that could top that. "You're forgetting the red form he took, though. What if that actually is a third form of magic? And let's not forget what he fired from his mouth, either. That thing carved a two kilometer ditch in the ground. It bisected the entire city of Tulcea from where they were fighting."

"_Tulcea took a real beating," _Cassandra finally piped in. _"It's going to take a few years for them to get back on their feet."_

"Kind of hard to believe that it happened to them, anyways." Rose sat down next to her Jason and stowed her helmet away. "But if that's the case on his magic, wouldn't that long-range blast count as a fourth?"

"Possibly," Syrus conceded. "After that, most of the images had failed because of a high electrical discharge of some sort that knocked out all electrical devices in a five kilometer radius around the fighting. It didn't bare any resemblance to any known form of an E.M.P. So that could be a fifth. Slade could have five reasons right there to want him if he could do all five on the spot without problem. The amount of destructive force he has could be rivaled to the power of the Green Lanterns when they have no choice but to use all their power."

"Surprised you didn't say he was close to Superman." Jason pulled out a small chocolate bar. "Then again, has anyone ever seen Superman go all out?"

"Not in recorded history."

The four remained silent for the remainder of the flight home.

(-)

Beast Boy looked at his reflection in the mirror. There was no covering up the damage done to his eye. Eight fights with eight different criminals in three days didn't do him any good. He was lagging behind now. Being near blind in one eye made him an easy target. It hurt.

He splashed water on his face to clean up the rest of the blood from the new injury he got. Cyborg said it wouldn't leave a scar, but he felt like it was going to happen anyways. He could see the small cut on his head right at the hairline. It went up and into his hair, vanishing right in to the green forest of hair he had. Didn't chicks dig scars? Surely he had enough now from all his battles to have gotten a few good looking girls hanging off his shoulders.

He grabbed a towel and dried off before heading out. Starfire floated by him, waving cheerfully as she entered after him. They had an entire tower to themselves with dozens of rooms, five of which were in constant use, and a dozen more that were set up for any new members that joined them. The other Titans that had joined them had all been given new communicators and sent back to their respected towns. Only Kid Flash and Jinx really remained here, but they didn't live in the tower.

And yet despite this, they only had one bathroom? That seemed a little counterproductive given the amount of space this place had for them.

Beast Boy found the kitchen, grabbed a cup and filled it with water. He closed his good eye and growled when his bad eye couldn't even see the cup. His vision was so blurry that he might as well have just had the eye removed. Covering it up seemed stupid anyways.

"You okay?"

Beast Boy downed the water and began refilling it. "I'm fine, Raven. I'm just a little thirsty, that's all."

She was silent as he drank the water. When he put it down, she said, "Your eye is getting you hurt. You do know you could always get it fixed. Star Labs might be able to…"

"No. It's a reminder to me now. I screwed up. I shouldn't have to have my body worked on when I did this on my own. It's a lesson now."

Raven spun him around slowly and looked into both of his eyes. She cared about him. He was a good person. They both cared for each other. It was a working relationship. No love. They had been cursed to some extreme sense. Beast Boy now had a real raging animal inside him that was a danger to almost everyone when it came out. Raven was cursed by the power of her own father and nearly doomed the entire world into oblivion. Both things had been corrected, but they really felt like they could understand each other because of these curses they bore. Raven couldn't run from her past and Beast Boy couldn't deny what he felt inside.

"We all made a mistake. We didn't cover you. You got hurt. We're all responsible."

"But **I **didn't follow orders. After the whole thing with the Brother Hood of Evil I got cocky. I lead a team. I showed that I have real talent that everyone appreciated me for, and I let that get to my head. I deserved it."

"And what about the rest of us? You were in the hospital clinging to life? Cyborg wasn't even himself until you returned home. Starfire was so worried she couldn't fly or use her powers. Robin… let's not talk about how he was."

"What about you? Unless I've got memory loss to add to this outstanding new set of injuries I've got, you didn't say how you felt."

"I was worried too. I… had to clear my mind. I wasn't at the tower for a few days. You know how my powers act up when I get emotional."

"Yeah. Surprised I'm not getting zapped right now."

Raven smiled a little. "Controlling my emotions and losing control are two very different things. I'm in control of them right now. I'm not showing any emotion."

"Couldn't the lack of emotion be considered an emotion?" Raven smacked him lightly on the head. He mocked pain and walked for the couch. He began flipping through the channels in search of something fun to watch. Raven floated over to him and hovered next to him. "The doctors had already notified me of my chances to have my eye fixed. They said it only had a two percent chance. The way it was damaged would make it hard to fix. And getting it replaced means it wouldn't work well with my changing ability."

"It would take time, but I imagine that it could be fixed or replaced. Magic has its upsides in medicine as well."

Beast Boy clicked the television off and tossed the remote onto the coffee table.

"Why don't you take a break from crime fighting? You can take a vacation. Don't you have friends you want to see?"

"No. I can't take a vacation. I don't care about what Robin thinks. Don't think he's the reason I won't take a vacation just because he won't take one. I don't want to take one just because of this. I took one when I was hospitalized. I don't need another one. Not right now, anyways."

Raven decided to remain silent. Beast Boy was going to be stubborn all the way through this until he just couldn't take it anymore. She wouldn't deny him that. He had been through so much in the past month that things just seemed to be going even further downhill for him. If there was an end to the pit he was falling in to, it was obviously still a good ways down.

She decided to drop the matter and stick to watching television with him when he turned it back on.

(-)

It was ironic with the way Naruto thought. He was still just a child it seemed.

The blond hadn't taken the offered home. Slade hadn't figured he would. Alone and without any knowledge of a world he was in, he knew he'd obviously resort to finding and doing things on his own. He wouldn't take help from anyone unless he really saw that he had no choice. Maybe that was why Slade figured he was so interested in him. The teen was alone and was someone that could be manipulated easily if he wanted to. He didn't see himself as manipulating him and turning him into some kind of ultimate weapon.

Deathstroke checked his PDA again and smiled. Naruto hadn't moved from his previous location for two hours. His vitals still showed him to be alive and alert.

The winter chill hounded him but he could ignore it for now. He was dressed like a civilian for this. No point walking around in his uniform. It'd cause a scene.

Three blocks down, he hung a right, walked another two blocks, then hung a left and found the alleyway that Naruto was in. The blond had his back to the wall and was sleeping next to an air vent. It blasted him with hot air. He wasn't wearing his jacket.

The crunch of his boot over glass woke him and the teen sprang to his feet holding a knife.

"Who are you?"

"You know who I am." Slade reached up and peeled a side of his face off. Syrus technology was so wonderful at times, even if understanding it was beyond him or probably any other human on the planet. Syrus came from a Hyper-Advanced Race. They were literally super-thinking computers with an IQ beyond human measure. Not even the great Lex Luthor could achieve what they could. "It's me; Deathstroke the Terminator. The man who saved you in Tulcea."

Naruto pocketed the knife. "So what do you want?"

"I'm here because you asked for help and decided that returning was in your best interest."

"How do you know that?"

Slade pointed at his neck. Naruto blinked and then felt his own neck in response. The device had escaped his mind. He didn't bothering thinking on why he understood everyone after Slade had said that they all spoke English here. That man even said he was from some other place. He probably spoke another language as well.

"You never took the device off. I monitored your chatter, your vitals, and it even showed me where you were at all times. It's how I found you and knew when you wanted help. You had a close call with the cop, I'd say. He could have arrested you. Given the way you were acting towards him, he had full legal grounds to arrest you for suspicious activity. You're lucky he didn't."

The Jinchuuriki snorted.

"The offer still stands. I'm willing to help you. I'll train you in how to use our technology and protect you from your enemies. It is part of the deal I made with the others that work for me. I look out for those that work for me. Consider it my way of making sure everyone is happy."

"I refuse."

"Then why did you demand help?"

"I…"

Slade put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall. It was cold.

"I understand what you're going through. I can imagine it pretty well for you. You had a team once. They were probably the best at what they did or maybe they weren't. You were either alone from the start or became alone at one point. Then your team came along and you felt like you had a purpose again. But something went wrong. They betrayed you, abandoned you, or simply died away. And then you were all alone again. I won't abandon you if that's what you're worried about. Or is it that you're looking out for me as well? Those people you were fighting were strong, but I've dealt with worse. I've dealt with people that have super-human abilities or are aliens with abnormal powers. If I could deal with them, I can deal with whatever threats you have against you. So how about it? I'll watch out for you, and you can work for me? You have more to gain from this than what I do. You'll learn how to work our technology, make a life for yourself, and have all rights to taking what missions you want. I won't force you unless I actually need you for something."

"I've heard that before."

"I'm a man of my word."

"I've heard that before too."

The mercenary blinked once and looked the teen over. He didn't look ready for anything. He was just… scared.

"I had a team once," Naruto finally spoke after a moment of silence. "We weren't close, and we certainly didn't get along. But we made it work. I was hated. They were loved. I never did anything wrong, but one of them broke the law. He betrayed us. I failed to bring him in and it tore me apart. I spent years training to get him back, but no matter how strong I got, no matter how tough I fought… I just couldn't do it. I couldn't save him."

Slade push off the wall. "You believe you're based off of being a failure." Naruto turned heatedly towards him. "People who believe that they are failures will always be failures. Just because you hear that you are a failure, doesn't mean that you are a failure. If you believe you are a failure, then you base everything off of that and will always fail when your goal is within your reach. It eats at you and then you believe that you are based solely off that. For in the end, you will be a failure. Your mind, your body, even your own soul, will turn its back on your just when your goal is within reach, and yank it away because they don't know what success is."

"Well if you know so much about it; why are you fighting?"

"I'm fighting for money. Being a villain doesn't suit me. No point. Being a hero is pointless. They do it for no other reason than to be good little boy scouts and make the world happy. Villains only care about destruction or fame. Heroes are the same. The difference between mercenaries and those two types of people are that we are in it for the money and because we will do the right thing when it's necessary. Heroes won't kill their villain counterparts because it would seem as a crime on itself. Why kill another human being when you can save them and hopefully reform them? Villains don't play by those rules. They kill without a care in the world for no other reason than to enjoy it. I admit I'm a greedy person at heart, but I'm willing to stop for one reason or another. You could say that I'm looking for a successor, but that's not true. I already chose my successor. I would just like to have the perfect team for her when I die. People she can trust and depend on. Deep down, you are a dependable person."

"I'm not dependable. I don't like you."

"Because I look like someone that's your enemy?"

"That masked man; Tobi. He was after me because of his insane idea for peace. There is no peace from where I'm from. No honor. No friends. No loyalty. Only death and abandonment. I did everything for them. And then they threw me away because they were only interested in saving themselves. If I can't trust the people I saw as my family, how do you expect me to trust you?"

"Honestly, you don't need to trust me. You can always look me in the eye and point a gun at me if you feel safer that way. I'm willing to give it time. Time isn't a factor for me. You're special. I can see that. If you want help, I will give it to. You don't have to trust me. I already trust you because you know who I am and the location of my base. I let you go and walk out with a piece of Syrus's technology that not even this world has access to. It translates everything… even alien language. You could sell that on the black market for a reasonable price. Alien technology is very rare hard to come by. And working alien technology is almost impossible to find."

Slade put his hands behind his back and smiled down on him.

"Even if you don't trust me, I already trust you. So what do you say? Do you want to stay here and freeze to death, living off the streets until a thug or a gang tries to kill you or take you in for your skills? Or would you rather come work for me? I won't make you do anything you don't want unless I really do need you there. You'll have shelter, clothes, meals, and my protection. I'm sure that I can easily deal with your threats." Naruto just laughed. "You doubt my skills?"

"You don't have chakra? What can you do to people that can do anything I can, but only better?"

Slade raised one hand and pointed his finger at the sky. "If I base my theory off of what you have seen and the way you react to certain kinds of our technology, I can easily deduce that your world is very low on the technology department. So if your world is technologically backwards, I had the advantage. No matter the amount of skill, everyone has a weakness that can be exploited. Wouldn't you like to have a fight with them where you're faster, stronger, and more equipped to handle them?"

Naruto eyed the gun at Slade's side. He knew how they worked. He got shot at during his fight with the Akatsuki and knew that they traveled faster than what the Sharingan could follow. Maybe he could kill them here with their technology? That sure sounded like a good idea. And having someone explain how to use it would be even better. Never mind the fact that he could have a team help him.

"Fine," he finally growled. He slung his jacket over his shoulder. "But I don't trust you. I'm using you only for my own agenda."

"I can respect that." A black metal object on rubber wheels appeared. "Let's go back to the base and get ready for a probation mission. I need proof that you will be able to do what I need when I need it."

The door was opened and Naruto crawled inside. His life was about to change and he knew. But the ends justified the means. He'd get his revenge on the Akatsuki for causing him all this pain. And he'd kill the two of them that ruined his life.

(-)

"Step onto the platform, please."

Naruto did as instructed after getting a confident nod from Slade.

No sooner had he arrived back at the base did Slade ask him to do a job. It was a probation mission and would determine what they needed to work on with him. He could understand that. Konoha did the same thing. People from other nations that came over to their village and joined their ranks had to go through this as well. It was more for the safety of the village. Those people were probably never left alone. Naruto figured they did. Chances were high that he was always monitored as well.

Clad only in a gray suit that clung to his body and felt like a second skin, he stood on the designated platform and remained motionless until he received new orders.

Naruto waited and held his breath as a series of red lights ran over his body. It started from his feet and then ran around him as it went up. It flashed over his eyes and his pulse spiked.

"_Why?!" Naruto feel on his backside and rolled out of the way of a stray kunai._

"_You aided and abided in the escape of Uchiha Sasuke, allowing him join the enemy ranks." Sakura ran at him with her fist cocked back._

"_How can you blame me for that? I tried!"_

_Naruto grunted as Kakashi kicked him in the stomach, throwing him back. Naruto gasped and rolled to the side, avoided Kakashi's second attack. He sprang to his feet and started running. He didn't know what was going on. They were looking into a report about strange activities by possible Akatsuki forces and then everything just went wrong. An explosion had separated them and when they came back together they started fighting a bunch of white guys that looked like they had been stitched together. That was when Sakura and Kakashi turned on him, even going so far as to say they were giving him to the Akatsuki._

_He hadn't thought about it. He just ran. He ran for several minutes before the loud cry of Tsutenkyaku! This marked the arrival of Tsunade, and by her first attack, it was clear she wasn't on his side. _

The beam crossed over his eyes again and the memory faded.

They had turned on him. Betrayed him and gave him up to the Akatsuki and for no real reason it seemed. They had all fought hard, but they were eventually killed off by Tobi when he arrived to take Naruto away. That was when the Akatsuki showed up and dealt with him as swiftly as they could. That was also when things went south in every way possible. Hundreds of jutsus were fired, Naruto, in his own rage, assumed his four-tailed state and proceeded to level everything in his field of vision, and then it happened. He was here on this strange new world. Tobi was dead and the Akatsuki began focusing him. It wasn't something he liked remembering.

"Scan complete. Step off the platform and head for the next platform."

The blond did as instructed. This platform had a series of rings around the bottom of it with two foot prints for him to stand on. His feet slid into the two foot prints where metal clamped down around them. The rings slid open and a series of metallic hands popped out holding several pieces of silver metal with black lines around the edge. They clamped onto his body and fused to the suit. They ran over parts of his abdomen, outer thigh, shins, knees, forearms, top and bottom ribs, and collarbones. Then entire collarbone set connected to a pack on his back the shielded his lungs from any fire he might take from behind and was clipped to the two plates of metal that covered his top and bottom ribs. The metal that protected his forearms sported two spheres that bulged off them a good inch and glowed blue.

Stepping off the platform, Naruto stared at his hands. He didn't feel any heavier. The suit offered nothing in terms of weight. He felt naked even though he was clothed. It was a strange sensation. His mind registered clothing and armor, yet his body felt nothing.

A green light blinked and he stared at it. The floor hissed and opened up, raising a mask/helmet. Metal ran around from the jaw, up to his ears, and wrapped around the back of his head to the crown of it. The rest if was a piece of glass or plastic that was clear. Naruto picked it up and poked his head inside and saw that it was heavily padded.

A piece of the wall opened up and Slade stepped in. He looked Naruto over and then smiled towards him. "This is an Apprentice suit. It offers you the standard protection that most police officers have. The suit beneath the armor that you're wearing is something that only Special Forces members of the armed forces have access to. It's nothing special. The only thing probably worth anything is the helmet for its design only. The visor can deflect low caliber bullets and can deflect thrown projectiles."

Naruto stared at the visor and wondered if he wanted to test that theory with one of his knives while it was coated with a little wind chakra. He doubted it could block that.

"We're waiting for the other members to arrive so you have a teammate to help you."

"Handler," Naruto said softly.

"If that's how you view him, so be it. Now if you'll come with me, we can get you outfitted with some weapons."

Naruto just grumbled something inaudible as he followed after Slade. Deathstroke the Terminator was a patient person and very understandable of Naruto's own situation as he gave him a quick lesson concerning firearms and then outfitted him with a two weapon pouches for his throwing knives. Naruto put five in each pouch and then clipped a pair of pistols to the small of his back. He doubted he'd use them, but Slade said he just might. It was always better to have something and not need it instead of needing something and not having it. Naruto could respect that.

The other thing he was given was an understandable object. It was a sword, but nothing like what he was used to. Naruto had seen a great deal of hidden weapons, but this one was exceptionally different. He doubted he'd use it, but like Slade said, it was better having something and not need it than to not have it and need it. The sword was actually just a guard and handle. Anything that touched it couldn't activate it unless it was getting power from a suit like his or anyone else in the organization. The blade would literally pop out of the guard and was three feet in length, defying the guard entirely, and possessed a thin slit right up the middle of the blade. A blue gem shined from the guard, showing that when the blade was out and when it was sheathed it would return to a dull gray.

"Your helmet offers you only a COM system so that we can talk to each other. We can, however, monitor your vitals from here. The suit you're wearing can record data on your body and transmit it back to us. Though that part of the technology is not known to the world, it is, however, useless to them. They'd have to know what they were looking for in order to find it. You don't know what to look for, obviously. Prove you're worthy of something better and that we can rely on you, and you will be given better gear in the future. I promised I would look after you, but first you must now prove to me that you can do things for me to help me as well. So how do you feel about a mission where all you have to do is steal something for me?"

"What am I stealing?"

"Some military information from a private company that has been known to do some questionable things. Jason Todd will accompany you. Backup support will be from Ravenger. She won't engage unless you are in serious trouble. You will be given the code name Ghost. If you feel the need to change it, you may. Do you have objections to this?"

Naruto stared at the helmet for a moment then put it on. "No objections. Though, I'd like to have the code name 'Rogue' instead."

"Very well. Jason," Slade called out. A door opened and Jason stepped in wearing his gear. "Head to Jump City and commence your mission. I expect the best from both of you. Good luck."

Slade left right after that and the three were placed into a jet for transport.

"And I just got back from another mission," Jason grumbled as they took off.

(-)

Night time operations were always the biggest pain in Jason's case. He found it much easier to just walk in during broad daylight and complete his mission. Sneaking around in the middle of the night just wasn't his style. He wanted to be able to know where his enemy was so he could shot, stab, and break them apart. Sneaking around, while fun, wasn't that much fun in the dark.

Rose hefted her rifle and looked straight up at the cliff that was above them. "I'll be on lookout," she said sternly. She made sure to glare right at the blond. Naruto didn't like her for reasons he wasn't explaining. She thought it was cute how he held a grudge for one thing or another, but she didn't like his attitude. They were about to do a job. They had to get along or they could seriously die. "If things get out of hand and I step in, you know to back off. Rogue, we're excepting good things from you. Don't screw up."

"Just don't stab me in the back."

"I'm using a long-range rifle. I'd shoot you. Not stab you."

Naruto grunted and looked down at the building they would be infiltrating. When he turned back to see what Ravenger thought of it she was gone. He tried to find her but that proved impossible. She had to have a kind of cloaking Ninjutsu or something that was equivalent to it.

Jason fiddled with his rifle. It was an odd looking thing. Naruto didn't know enough about their technology or weapons to know how it worked, but after watching Jason strip, clean it, and then put it back together, he knew that it was magazine-fed from the back. Anything else was unknown to him.

"Alright," Jason threw the weapon onto his back and began checking over his pistol. "Our object is to break in, hopefully remain undetected, steal some information to use against these guys, and hopefully get out without fighting through a horde of enemies. While I doubt that we'll remain undetected, the other parts should go fine. Just don't fuck up. Listen to what I have to stay. And if we have to exchange fire with anything or anyone, keep your head down. It's all fun and games until you're shooting at the enemy while being behind me, then you might shoot me in the head by accident."

"I doubt I'm going to use these stupid things."

Jason just laughed lightly and clipped his pistol to his side.

"My code name is Specter. No using real names."

Naruto grunted. He could understand that. ANBU did the same thing.

Jason led the way. Naruto followed, using the same method that Jason did. They traveled by rooftop for their intended target. For a normal human, Jason was rather fast. Naruto jogged to keep up with him. The entire trip didn't long. When Jason had come to a stop on the building next to it, he pointed at the roof and then fired a grappling hook from his pistol. Using the system, Jason was pulled towards the roof. Naruto saw no point to the rope when it was presented and decided to jump right to the top of the five story building.

Jason pulled the rope up and put it on the roof.

Naruto folded his arms over his chest and marched towards the door. Jason followed, pulling out a knife as he moved towards the door. A single lock was placed over it. Old fashioned lock called for old fashioned breaking methods.

Jason stuck the blade in the gap between the bent metal and began applying pressure. He continued to try and cut through it with an old fashioned knife. Naruto grew agitated and yanked on the lock, pulling it and the metal clamp and the block away from the door. Jason grunted and pocketed the knife.

"Two floors down and we'll be looking for a room that has the name David E. Switchfoot. He's not the official president of the company, but he is the president of the company anyways. It's a complicated thing."

The blond thought the whole thing was stupid. Why go to the top when he could have just busted in the proper window on the third floor and just started searching for whatever it was they were here for. That was how his world would have done it. He at least hoped that'd be how they'd do it. That was what he'd do.

The entire thing took five minutes. They found the room, stole the data that was needed, and began heading out. Jason laughed as he held up the device that stored the data and chuckled nervously. "It was bugged with a trap. Ravenger, do you have a visual on anything heading our way?"

"…_The Titans are on their way. It looks like only five members are present. Can you guys handle them?"_

"Of course we can." Jason killed the COM channel and patted Naruto. He looked out the window and saw a group of people heading for them.

"_Two of them are heading for the roof and will come down on you guys from the top. Two are taking the elevator. The last one just vanished into the ground. Prepare for combat."_

Jason looked to the Jinchuuriki and found him to be missing. He gawked and flipped his motion sensor on. He could detect the four that were coming. His radar was great. It picked up any kind of movement from a glass falling or someone actually crawling along the ground as slowly as they could. It could pick up an ant in motion. Because of this, even though Naruto was barely moving, he found him nestled on the ceiling, clinging to it upside down like he was kneeling on the floor.

Jason grabbed a flashbang from his pouch and jumped behind cover. He watched the elevator and waited. Robin and Cyborg had to be coming up through the elevator. That would mean that Beast Boy and Starfire coming down from the top floors. Raven would obviously appear from the shadows. So a flashbang would catch at least three of them… hopefully.

The elevator door opened dinged and he threw the flashbang. He took cover as soon as it opened up and waited two seconds. The muffled bang of it going off sounded and was followed by two cries of pain. Jason jumped over his covered and charged Cyborg and…Beast Boy?

The ceiling groaned and then fell down in front of him. Robin and Starfire stood/hovered in front of him as Beast Boy and Cyborg stumbled up to them and slowly regained their senses. It only took a few seconds before their vision was back to normal and took their usual stance as Robin said, "You're going to jail. We can either do this the easy way or the hard way. You're choice."

Raven appeared from the ground and looked around.

Jason sighed scratched at the side of his helmet.

"Well?" Raven asked impatiently.

"I'm still thinking."

Starfire growled, her patience met, and flew rights towards him. Naruto dropped down from the ceiling and stopped her cold. He raised his hands, throwing up a bit and leaving her wide open. With one kick, he sent the alien girl flying straight up and through the ceiling. He vanished in the haze of falling dust and debris.

"Starfire!" Robin screamed as the others all looked up to see the hole in the ceiling. Jason jumped forward, attacking Robin and shoving him into the elevator before anyone could react. "We choose hard way!"

Jason elbowed the controls and the elevator began to climb as the two started fighting in the confined space.

(-)

Starfire touched the side of her head as she floated down to the roof of the building. Naruto appeared from behind and cracked his knuckles.

"You should not have done that!"

Starfire threw a punch and Naruto blurred around it. The young alien flew past him, turned around in the air, and looked down at him. She looked a bit puzzled. The hole in the roof was obviously a testament to his strength alone. She was ditzy, not stupid. Someone with that much strength was obviously a threat.

There was a loud bang and then a section of the roof detonated in a ball of fire. Cyborg, Robin, Beast Boy, and Raven all flew up through the flames and debris. Jason appeared a moment later and laughed at the group. Naruto looked very confused just by his body language alone. Did he seriously not understand what was going on or was he just bored? If could hold his own against nine people that were trying to kill or capture him and come out alive he could certainly handle a few teens, two of which had special powers, another that could change into animal, and one that was a walking computer.

"We voted hard way, by the way. Just though I'd pass that little nugget of information along if you missed the memo."

Robin gritted his teeth while standing up. "We got the memo!" He gave out a battle cry and lunged for him. Jason laughed and the two started fighting.

Starfire flew down to the others as they looked to the other masked fighter. He looked… bored.

"Don't suppose you'll come peacefully?" Raven inquired.

Naruto shook his head.

"I was kinda hoping you would."

A black orb appeared over her hand and thrust it forward. The door and parts of the debris from the explosion were lifted and hurled at him. The Jinchuuriki snorted and blinked right out of the way. Raven turned and swung her arm in a wide arc, creating a black shield to stop his fist. Naruto used only the smallest amount of force and broke through it with a single punch. Raven hastily backed up and floated next to Cyborg. The cyborized teen looked a little alarmed by that as well.

"So you have super speed?" The dark colored teen asked. "You don't seem nearly as fast as KF."

Naruto rolled his eyes from behind his mask. This was rather boring so far. He didn't want to outright kill them. He reserved that for only certain people. They were doing their job and defending this place. It wasn't part of his orders to kill them either. He could let them live until ordered otherwise.

He surged forward, surprising them all with his speed and punched the metal teen right in the face. Cyborg groaned from the blow as his head snapped back. The blond moved quick and jabbed him three more times in the gut and raised his arm to elbow him in the face when he doubled-over from having his stomach pounded on. His head once again was snapped back, and this time Naruto palmed him hard in the sternum. The metal teen fell backwards and rolled away.

The red haired alien and jumped forward, swinging for his face. Naruto leaned back out of the way and punched her right in the temple. Starfire fell to the side from the force behind it, but she strived through it and returned with one of her own. Naruto avoided most of it, but he still took a piece of it. His helmet was about the only thing to protect his head from the real damage. His neck wasn't as fortunate as his head jerked sideways and broke as his body jerked violently in the same direction. He flipped and collapsed to the ground.

"Did I break him?" Starfire asked fearfully. Naruto puffed away, leaving nothing behind. "Huh? He was a cloud?"

"Starfire! Behind you!"

She didn't get a chance to turn around. The mysteriously masked fighter punched her squarely in the face and sent her stumbling backwards. He stood there just staring at her and then charged her. She swung for his head. He ducked under it and hit her with an uppercut to the chops. She flipped backwards twice and stopped in the air. She hovered there just staring down on him. She seemed confused more than anything now.

Raven tried her chances again and used her magic to create a large bird foot to try and pin him. Naruto dodged it without seemingly moving. Raven growled to herself and formed another set of claws from the black energy that had already been sent out. Naruto moved around it easily and continued to effortlessly dodge the attack. Raven created dozens more and had them come at different directions. Naruto, again, made it look easy as he effortlessly dodged each one.

The blond haired teen snorted as she created more. He flickered from their views and appeared right behind the sorceress. He placed one hand on her neck at her jugular. Raven spun and backed off holding the spot. He hadn't hurt her. But for him to appear like that…

_He can use magic? Or is that teleportation from a metahuman ability?_

Naruto dropped his arm to his side and stared at her before a deep growl had him turn slowly. Beast Boy stood above him in the form of a large bear. Naruto was actually surprised to see a bear at all. He'd seen plenty of them in the past but for one to actually be here when he hadn't detected it, was something else. If it wasn't for the fact that it was green he might have taken it home for no other reason than appreciation. Only that stupid cat from those D-Rank missions had ever gotten past his sensing abilities.

The bear swung at him.

Beast Boy in the form of a bear swung and swung at him, trying everything he could to hit the masked fighter. His attacks were slow and he tried to reason with a piece of his mind that screamed for something else. _What is this feeling? _He continued his attack until the masked fighter grabbed his paw and hurled him over his shoulder. The moment they made contact Beast Boy felt a deep fear run through him. He felt like a corner animal staring into the impressive maw of a predator.

Starfire charged right back in. Naruto jumped over her charge, grabbed her hair, flipped, and then threw her at the ground. She screamed from the force of her hair being tugged on. When she hit the floor she growled and then realized he still had a hold of her hair. Naruto pulled on it and punched her in the face.

Cyborg moved in, firing blasts of sound at him. The blond twisted, avoiding one shot, but not avoiding the second. It hit him in the side and he spun with the momentum of the blast. He released Starfire and then ran for it. Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven combined a long-range attack that soared straight and true for the blond. Naruto turned and faced the attack. It washed over him and continued on its way towards the next building, taking out a chunk of the roof.

"Where'd did he go?" Cyborg asked. A crunch and he turned quickly. "Gotcha!" Naruto brought up one fist and punched him in the face through his guard. "Don't mock me!" Cyborg threw a punch. Naruto avoided it and kneed him in the gut. Coughing, the tin teen stumbled back and hissed out, "You're stronger than you look."

The Jinchuuriki turned his gaze on Starfire again and faced her fully.

Beast Boy took a step back and gripped the side of his head. _This sensation… what is it?_

"Forgive me for this. I wish not to cause you any more harm than what is required of me."

"I don't care." Naruto blurred forward, stopping beside the alien girl. She turned. Naruto backhanded her away. "I thought you were faster than that." _I could have sworn she was faster a moment ago. _

"_**You're such an idiot."**_

"_Kyuubi…?"_

"_**You won't use your full abilities on them? Why? Is it because you're aware of-"**_

"Shut up." Naruto said out loud. "I don't need you. Just sit in your cage and leave me alone."

(-)

Syrus blinked for a full second.

Slade eyed the teen for that one second. Anything that gave him pause was worth noting. Syrus was so advanced and smart that for him to pause in thought for a second was like waiting a year for something.

"His brainwaves have replied to what he's saying."

Deathstroke leaned closer to the batch of monitors. "Care to repeat that, please?"

Syrus raised a hand and a new monitor blinked into existence. From their base of operations they could monitor everything concerning the mission. He had the team vitals, their positioning, the chatter, weapon information, ammunition count, and a full batch of monitors that told him everything about what their body was feeling. Rose needed to pee. Jason was pumped up on adrenaline. And Naruto was talking to himself… or something that was inside his head.

The spike in his brainwaves meant that he was getting a reply. In theory when people spoke to the voices in their head this kind of thing appeared. Sadly, that had never been proven. No normal human could have that happen without a psychic literally talking to them. When that happened there would be a spike in brainwave activity, but it was so low that didn't even register. It was the mind of the person speaking as the spikes increased. This was different.

"Judging by the elapsed time between when he stops talking and the spikes hit, this could be a second personality. Given the way it's happening, it's possible that this is the case."

Slade stood up straight and looked back at the monitors that showed Naruto's body structure. Nothing had changed with him yet. Did he have to get permission from the source that caused the brainwave spikes? Maybe that was the red power. _No. How could another personality control something like that? It'd have to be two bodies merged into one. Is that even possible for him? We would have detected it, wouldn't we have? And his other body system is blue in nature. Why did he have a red aura anyways? Did I get the wrong one?_

"Keep monitoring them and see if you can somehow decode what those brainwaves are doing. If it's talking to him, I'd like to try and know what it's about. If it's nothing, don't worry about it."

"I can't translate a brainwave. I can't translate a brainwave with what he has on him. I'd need him in the lab to do that. I'm still learning how to do that, though. My mother can do that."

Slade growled and watched as the brainwaves suddenly died down. Naruto seemed to have stopped talking as well. He'd have to ask him about that when he got back.

(-)

Starfire picked herself up off the ground for the fifth time and rubbed her head. Somehow, the masked fighter was able to constantly increase his strength, speed, and decrease his reaction time accordingly to combat her. How he did, she didn't know. All she knew was that no matter what edge she had over him was quickly corrected. Flight was the only thing she had over him. Well that had her eyebeam attack, but that would easily be fixed by his pistols, which he wasn't using.

She took to the sky and opted for watching. He just decided to stare at her until Cyborg picked himself up off the ground and made a charge for him.

Starfire didn't understand him. He didn't talk. Most villains boasted about how they were winning and why they did what they did. He was silent. Everything he did was a complete contradiction to the way normal villains were. Cinderblock could honestly be the only one that didn't really talk, but that was because he couldn't talk.

Cyborg was brought down again with a two-hit combo that knocked him back to the ground.

Their fighting had gone from the third story in the building, to the roof, and now was on the city streets. Only Robin was still on the roofs, though he was on a different building.

The young alien girl charged right in again, this time shouted a battle cry.

Naruto kicked Beast Boy away and faced her fully. The young girl threw a punch and suddenly her vision was thrown skyward before fading halfway to black. Naruto had dodged her flying charge, punched her in the jaw, and then jumped up with her, one hand placed on her face and shoving it into the stone wall. A long path was cut through it as a result, and when they reached the top, Naruto punched her for good measure, throwing her through the rest of the roof while he let go and landed on it. She hovered holding her face as a result of the attack.

"What's with this guy?"

Naruto looked down to see Cyborg reading his arm cannon again. The tin teen fired. Naruto stepped to the side and avoided it. Narrowing his eyes, he reached up and removed the sword from his back. Applying a bit of pressure, the blade popped out and he appeared beside the metallic teen. "That arm is annoying." He swung the sword. Cyborg laughed and blocked it. The sword smacked into the arm and bounced off. Naruto stepped back and looked at it for a moment then lunged forward while swinging again.

Cyborg raised his arm to block it. The sword hummed and then passed through Cyborg's arm at the middle of his forearm. The tin teen panicked and backed up as the severed piece fell to the ground. "How did you…?"

(-)

"He can do that?" Syrus shouted in with interest, freaking Slade out. "He can cover weapons in that energy he has to increase its cutting power?! I wonder how he did that?!"

"He did what?" Slade asked quietly.

(-)

Naruto swung the sword again. Cyborg jumped back and fired his other sonic cannon. Naruto ducked around it and blurred right up to him, sword poised for another strike. Cyborg shot the ground. The force of the explosion threw them both away.

The Jinchuuriki flipped in the air and landed on a black spot. Looking down he saw several tendrils come up and wrap around his ankles.

"Hit him now!" Raven yelled to the others.

The three teen fired from three different points.

The blond gritted his teeth and let the blast hit him. The tendrils were forced to let go as the collective attacks overpowered their grip. Naruto skipped along the ground, his sword lost from the attack. His armor protected him, but that didn't mean he escaped without pain. Being thrown in a different direction and sent bouncing along the ground still hurt him. He stood up as soon as he stopped and looked at them. Beast Boy began to shake again.

"Why?" Cyborg asked to no one in particular. "Why won't you stay down?!"

The three opened fire on him again. Their shots were somewhat wild and missed him as he started running again. Panic had set in on them. Not many villains could handle a blast like what he did, or even a conjoined blast from the three. He obviously could and get right back up without any show for it. They might as well have put on a light show for him then with their attacks if they couldn't hurt him.

Naruto charged right through their attacks. He grabbed his sword. Cyborg stopped firing and jumped onto the nearest tall object that he could get to. To him that sword was dangerous if it could cut through titanium shell. Naruto, however, didn't get the memo and jumped up to where the tin Titan was. He jumped away just in time to avoid a slash that would have taken a leg. The lamppost wasn't fortune of such a thing and lost a piece of its top.

Landing, the teen jumped back and avoided a hard punch from Starfire as she moved in to cover her comrade. Naruto, upon landing, surged forward and delivered a hard snap kick to her jaw. Her teeth snapped together and Naruto was reminded of nailed on a chalkboard from the sound they made when they snapped together. Starfire held her mouth as a small dribble of blood seeped through her fingers. Naruto moved in and slammed a fist hard into her gut. She doubled over from the force of the blow and then took another shot to the face.

Black tendrils raced from the grounds towards him. Naruto jumped to the side, rolled, and sprang to his feet. Raven flew at him and threw everything at him that she could grab. Naruto dodged each object no matter how big or how fast traveled. Raven came to a stop and threw a large chunk of the road at him. The blond flickered out of existence and appeared behind her as she shoved it forward.

The Jinchuuriki backhanded her across the face when she turned to face him. Raven collapsed to the ground at his feet. She spat blood and held the side of her head as a throbbing pain began to hit her. _What is this pressure?_

Starfire screamed another battle cry as she tackled him and shoved him into the nearest wall. Naruto grunted and stared her down through his polarized visor. Her eyes glowed brightly and then shot a beam of green energy at him. He moved his head to the right and avoided it. Starfire paused in shock and took a knee to the gut. Naruto broke free and brought his elbow down on her head, brought his knee up into her face, and then punched her in the side of the face to force her back.

Cyborg fired down on him from his new vantage point. Starfire and Raven joined him and fired down on him as well.

"_**Why are you letting these weaklings beat you up?" **_

"Shut up!"

The flood of power surged through him, throwing Beast Boy into silent tears as he huddled in the corner panicking. Raven gave pause in her attacks and found it suddenly hard to breathe. She cooled her fears and soon regained the ability to breathe normally again, though the pressure and a sensation ran through her that she realized was fear. _This power is… Why does he have it?_

(-)

Syrus smiled.

Slade backed up nervously. If Syrus was smiling like that it was because he just thought of something fun to make, wanted to experiment on something, or he had gotten a communication of some sort from his home planet. If any of those three happened, it was usually not something good for Slade because of what usually followed. Syrus was good at what he did, but sometimes he went a little crazy.

"His entire body just got supercharged."

Slade looked the monitors that were showing Naruto's body. The blue lines of the strange system he had started to change to red and he smiled. _I did get the right one. But why is normally blue instead of red? _

The monitors began blur into a line of code. Syrus was busy examining everything beyond what Slade could. He looked to his own private monitor and began to go over everything at his own pace. The suit was fully of scanning devices and was doing its job well. Nothing was shorting out, which was miracle all on its own. Naruto's electrical body current was increased to super-human levels. Everything about his body suddenly got enhanced to a point where Slade was left wondering if it was some sort of drug or chemical in his body that could make the change. The changes weren't something you got from meditating. That only went so far.

_Skeletal system just got sturdier. Increased density of his muscles. His vision has increased color sharpness and made it to where he has night vision. Greatly improved reaction time, decreasing the time by about a hundred fifty perfect? How does that red energy do that to him? I wonder what he's feeling right now. _He looked at the brain scan and realized a drawback to all this. _Parts of his frontal lobe have been altered, allowing increased aggressive response to dangerous level, making him immune to system shock. With that he could keep fighting even after he was hit mortally and would have slipped into a comatose state._

"Fascinating," Syrus said blissfully. He sounded like he was in love. "I have to meet him now."

"You can meet him once I give the okay, Syrus. I promise. You'll meet him. But it's too soon."

"Make it happen sooner. He's a treasure-trove of information for the way his body works. There are no humans or Metahumans on record with that kind of body."

The mercenary nodded mutely. Naruto was indeed a treasure-trove of information and skills for the way his body was. _I wonder what he'd be like if I gave him the enhancement that I had?_

(-)

With Kyuubi's power flowing through him, the blond waited for their opening attack.

Beast Boy surged forward in his beast form. Naruto lashed out with one hard kick to his sternum that left him gasping for air. The blond lifted his leg high above his head and then brought it down on the ground. The green teen screamed in pain.

An intense pressure crashed down on him and his body locked up. _This is…! _He glanced up and felt every part of his body try to turn and flee. His mind screamed this. The inner beast part of his mind locked up as well. He felt cornered and could see his own death in that featureless mask he wore. He wanted to scream, tried to scream, but nothing could leave his mouth.

The cloak wearing girl also seemed affected by it, but she was strong enough to stave off whatever it was she was feeling from it. The other two didn't have that ability and were ready to continue fighting.

Naruto ran straight for them, once more scaring the tin teen as he raised his sword for another strike on the dark skinned teen.

"He's faster now?!" Cyborg jumped away, barely missing Naruto's strike. As soon as the teen got to his feet Naruto was on him again, this time slashing for his chest. The blade grazed his just enough to leave a thin cut. He held his chest as a result while Starfire and Raven provided cover for him. _How is he doing that? This is titanium armor? What kind of weapon is he using? Has to be alien tech or someone that has a lot of free time on their hands. Lucky he doesn't show much skill with it._

The blond evaded all of their projectile attacks and went on the defensive. This lasted for only a few seconds. He returned to the offensive stance he had been taking earlier and began dominating them again. Any chance they got to go on the offensive was short and didn't do anything anymore. Naruto was too fast and overpowered them with great ease.

Starfire flew down on him firing as she did and did everything to keep him from getting to close to Cyborg or Raven. She tackled him and knocked him back. She pushed him three meters and then came to a sudden stop. Naruto reached up and grabbed the side of her face with one hand then proceeded to punch the other side with his free hand. Her face instantly started to swell and grew bigger with each blow she took. After taking three she was able to break away but was captured again.

Naruto slammed a knee into her stomach and she dropped to the ground hard. He punched her again, this time in the back of the head. He kicked her in the gut and knocked her away. There was a loud crack and then a scream followed by a blast. Naruto glanced up just in time to see pure white heading his way.

Cyborg cheered when he saw the blast connect with the masked fighter. "Boo-Yah! How'd you like that?" The smoke faded and Starfire stood on her knees with smoke wafting off her form. Naruto was nowhere to be seen. "How did Star get all the way over there?!" His breath hitched and he felt his body shift unnaturally. He suddenly fell to down and sank into the concrete. He stopped sinking at the chest and he looked up. Naruto stood over him with his sword pointed at his face. _He can manipulate the earth?_

Raven flung a black tendril in the form of a birds' foot. Naruto ducked back and avoided it. In a flash of movement he was beside her and put a hand on the side of her face.

"Stop hurting my friends!" She screamed as she grew taller. Naruto jumped back and stared at her. Black tendrils flailed out of her cloak and seemed to be held back in the desire to grab him. "What's the matter? Afraid of the dark?!"

The blond reached into his pouch and pulled out a kunai. He tossed it and it went through her. She laughed as he eyes glowed red and then another set of red eyes appeared above her original set. Naruto could hear Kyuubi laughing happily from inside his mind. He grabbed two more kunai and applied the explosive tags. He tossed them and like before they went through her. She obviously could make herself intangible or he just wasn't hitting the right spot.

"Raven! Get out of there!"

The Dark Titan turned to shout something at the Shape Shifting Titan when the scent of smoke got her attention. A flash and a bang followed by an invisible hand slapped her back and threw her forward. Flames covered her cloak and she coughed blood on the ground.

"Rae!"

Naruto spun around watched the tin teen get out of the ground he'd put him in.

"Stop hurting them!"

He grabbed another kunai and was suddenly blasted sideways. He rolled when hit the ground, sprang to his feet, and saw the redheaded alien making another pass. He caught her when she was about to shoulder tackle him and stopped her without any effort. Wisps of red flared from his form as he spun her around, grabbing her right arm in the process, and slammed his knee and elbow down on the bicep. She screamed louder than the crack that sounded from the blow.

Starfire floated off holding her broken arm as Cyborg charged in, furious beyond reason and tried to punch him. Naruto caught his fist and stared at him as he applied pressure. The big teen took a knee as he felt his entire arm begin to burn. His head rose to show defiance and found a fist falling down on him. Naruto punched him with near all of his might and dropped him. Cyborg was alive, but he wouldn't be getting back up. Naruto had knocked him out the hard way.

Starfire made one more attempt to down him. Her stubborn refusal to accept defeat being the only reason.

She passed through him, revealing him to be an illusion of sorts, and found him again on the roof where Robin was. She flew straight up at him at high speeds. Naruto narrowed his eyes in anger behind his mask and jumped up over her, forcing her fly above him and turn around. When he landed, she turned and flew down him. This time Naruto jumped up to meet her. He grabbed her face and brought it down as he raised his knee into her face.

The force of the blow broke her nose and loosened her two top front teeth and one bottom front teeth. Naruto released his hold and the remaining force sent her flipping backwards before gravity took hold of her and she hit the ground.

"Starfire!"

"You're an idiot!"

Naruto turned just enough to see Robin fighting off Jason or Specter or whatever his name was. He had truly forgotten his name already.

Robin looked overly worried for the girl. Looking at the teen, Naruto saw that he was about to be brought down. Jason easily took the advantage and brought the teen down with a quick three-shot, burst from his rifle. Whatever it shot out didn't penetrate the teen and he went down screaming. Smoke came off him when he hit the ground. He didn't move.

Black energy screamed forward towards Naruto. The blond, still using Kyuubi's power, growled and avoided the attack. Raven's eyes went wide with fright as the blond vanished from her sight. Intense pain flooded her body as she dropped. She tasted copper and blood in her mouth as she fell forward. Naruto stood over her with his sword poised for the final blow.

A green blur shot forward and got between the two of them. The blond stopped his sword and looked down at the frightened teen.

"We give up! Okay? You've won! Just don't hurt us anymore!"

"_**Kill him."**_

Naruto snorted and sheathed the sword. Kyuubi growled at this. The green haired teen, however, looked up with teary eyes. The power remained with him as he left. He wasn't going to release it. Not by choice anyways. He was angry with the way things were. He had taken out his pent up aggression on them. He was angry with his life and the Kyuubi. It ruined everything. Even if staying like this made him somewhat closer to the creature, he could still wear down its power, couldn't he. Nothing was limitless, right?

"_You guys are all clear." _Ravager's voice came in through their COM system. _"Good show from where I'm at. Kinda wished I had some popcorn."_

"Nice to know you enjoyed the show. E.T.A is five minutes. Ankh, can you have the ship ready for us when we get there."

There was no reply. Or at least Naruto didn't get the reply. The other person who had been on the radio had laughed and Naruto was left utterly clueless to the joke. He didn't even care anyways. The entire mission was over his head. He'd settle for settling his scores before he opted to listen to these guys.

(-)

"What the hell happened out there?"

Robin was furious. A new team appearing and beating them like this was beyond anything he could take. Sure he learned that this might happen, but there was something about it that just made him feel bad. Slade was still out there and that was probably part of the problem. Slade had been playing games with them for a while. Robin saw this as more of those games.

It had taken them an hour in total to get back to the Tower. Beast Boy was the only one not heavily injured from the fighting and had picked them all up for transport. The first person he took care of was obviously Raven. She had been stabbed all through her abdomen, narrowly dodging death as the blade had missed her internal organs. Beast Boy said she was lucky, Raven said that pain made her think otherwise. All other injuries she had were capable of being treated by her with a few magic spells.

Cyborg ended up needing intensive repairs when he was brought back online/woke up. The teen had put him through his paces. With one severed arm at halfway up the forearm, a one inch slice across his chest, and part of his skull cracked from the power punch he took, Cyborg had been gone hours to just take care of himself.

Robin's injuries were minor, but still bad. His pointer, ring, and middle finger were broken on his right hand. His thumb was broken on his left hand. His clavicle was broken. He suffered one black eye, a bloodied noise, and muscle stiffness from the taser rounds he took to the back. He was also suffering a mild concussion. Falling on your head the way he had when he'd been stunned wasn't healthy to anyone not wearing headgear.

Beast Boy had escaped with only minor bruises and a few cuts, though it was painfully clear that he was messed up because of the fight. He didn't sound or act right.

Starfire was the worst one. Her Humerus on her right arm was broken. Her noise was confirmed broken. Her skull had a small crack from the blows to her face. She suffered internal bleeding from all the damage she had taken from his kicks and punches. She had slipped into a comatose state for a while, but was already back. She was going to be out of commission for weeks with the amount of damage that was done.

"What do you mean 'What happened out there'?" Cyborg repeated. "I got my arm cut off! The dude was serious trouble and way stronger than he looked. He was able to do that to Starfire and I have a hard enough time doing it to her in spars when we have to take things serious to make sure we're ready for whatever the bad guys through at us."

"You've never tried to damage my bones, though." She pointed out weakly.

"That's not the point, Star. You might as well have just fought Wonder Woman. The beating you took is something not even Cinderblock can do. The only other person that can do that to you is Blackfire!"

She sank deeper into the chair after hearing that. Her sister was still not accounted for and that worried her. If anything, she wanted to know where she was to make sure she was okay and wasn't getting into further trouble. Sisterly bounds, no matter how they acted towards each other, were still strong.

"Be that as it may, we need to figure out why they hit that place."

"They're a Private Military Company or PMC for short." Raven brought up the data on the screen. "These people focus heavily on mercenary deployments, training soldiers, weapons transport, and development logistical support, all based on business models for profit. They had contracts with major companions like Lex Corp and STAR Labs. The only reason that the Justice League won't touch them is because they are able to clean all their tracks and keep their noise clean and because of the military contracts and laws keep them from being touched as long as they don't do anything too extreme."

"But why go after them anyways?" Robin ran a hand over his face. His concussion was getting the better of him. "And why couldn't you guys handle just one person? What made him so dangerous?"

"The dude cut my arm off!" Cyborg screamed.

"He was stronger than he looked," Starfire said quietly. She shivered. The man had been extremely strong and it put a strange fear in her. How had he gotten stronger and faster as time went on? Nothing she had fought so far could do that.

"Our opponent used magic at the very least." Raven continued typing. All eyes turned to the monitor. "He used a teleportation magic as best I can tell. The fact he got stronger, faster, and a massive increase in his reaction time could also be an enhancement type of magic. It wouldn't be surprising if he could do that. Let's also not forget that he managed to trade places with Starfire right after knocking her a good eighteen meters away from himself, allowing him to dodge Cyborg's sonic cannon. Plus… there was a strong pressure that I felt from him. I don't know what it was but it was… malevolent in nature."

"You mean 'evil'," Robin countered.

"No. I mean malevolent. Evil and malevolent are two different things. If we go by what you're saying, demons and angels are just as it sounds. Demons can be good and angels can be evil."

"He was using his power for evil. So he's obviously evil. Meaning we have to stop him."

"Stop him isn't possible right now. With Starfire out of commission, Cyborg capable of being cut up by him, and Beast Boy being… well… not himself after that, I don't think we can deal with him. You wouldn't have made any difference." Raven began floating in the air and tapped her chin. _That pressure that I felt… Why does he have it? _

"Beast Boy!" Robin turned on him finally. "Why didn't you go after him?"

Beast Boy was silent. He just closed his eyes and looked down at the floor. He wasn't ashamed or even embarrassed. The teen just looked confused about something and maybe… terrified.

"Well?"

The green teen was silent. All eyes were on him. "I felt something from him," he said quietly. He shook his head. "I don't know what that feeling was. It reminded me of when Parallax showed up and we had to have the Justice League show up to deal with it. I just… There was something else about it, but that's the only way I can describe it. I felt like I was going to be destroyed just by looking at him. That pressure… that aura he had..." He shook his head and began breathing a little harder.

Robin looked away. No one could look at Beast Boy after he announced that name.

Parallax had come down to Earth and appeared in Jump City. Why this was, they had no idea. He got out of control and Beast Boy was subjected to its fear casting ability on a higher level than what most other sentient life could ever understand. Being capable of shape shifting into any animal he had seen made him highly susceptible to this. While he hadn't been infected, the fear itself was enough to ruin him for a few days.

"Okay," Robin replied softly. "We need to register those two in the mainframe. For the time being we'll call them E-057 and E-058 until we can learn their names."

Beast Boy stood up and walked off. Raven floated in the air and then went after him. The others soon followed by her example and wondered off, leaving Robin alone in the tower. He had work to do. No rest when wicked men and women were out their plotting their demise.


	3. Exceeding Expectations

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

From the minds of TheHumanWiki and Myevltwin

Chapter 3

"A paper bag?"

Jason laughed as he fiddled with the object in question.

Of all the people Naruto interacted with and actually spoke to, Jason was about the only real one he spoke to on a daily basis. Part of the reason this was happening was because Jason was willing to go to the extreme just to make sure he could talk to him. Wearing a paper bag was about the only way he could speak to him and he did if only to speak with him.

"It works. I can talk to him while I wear it. Besides, he says I remained him of someone that caused him great pain. He admitted that much to me, though he seemed very ashamed of that. Talking about my past to him made him change his opinion of me, but he still can't stand my appearance. Said it brings up too many bad memories on his end. He's trying. I can tell."

"But a paper bag? Why not just have Syrus make a device that changes your face or something? Surely he wouldn't have a problem with something else that allows you to see through it. Does he have a problem with your eyes too?"

"No. I just forgot to cut that out."

Rose laughed lightly to that. Leave it to Jason to forget something like that. He obviously did it for a laugh.

"Why not just go get a wig?"

Jason took a long pull from his soda and looked at the little silver creature that was on the table. It was a mass of thin pieces of metal that connected to form the skeletal structure of a humanoid creature. Four eyes, an extra pair of arms that came off the main arms, and bipedal legs. This was Frenzy, older brother to Twitchy who looked the same. The only noticeable difference between the two was that Frenzy had blue eyes instead of red eyes like Twitchy.

Frenzy and Twitchy were creations of Syrus before they had Cassandra join the team. Frenzy was created first for stealth, hacking, assassination, and infiltration. His success in the field was so great that Slade wanted another one built. The success rate of Twitchy was very high, though he did give himself away from time to time while also going out of his way to cause problems for just about anything he wanted to. More than once he had been damaged trying something that obviously wasn't safe even for him.

The two were often paired up for missions when things were just too dangerous for any of the others to go in. As a result of this, Twitchy and Frenzy were the most effective unit they had for when it came to these types of missions. They were programed to do this, but Slade had never said anything bad about them when it came to their job description. However, they could easily use some work on their manners and the meaning of the word 'No' from time to time.

When Jason and Cassandra first joined they had been a little put off by them, Jason more than Cassandra. Jason didn't fully understand what they really were even now. They weren't actually . Their core intelligence was created from Syrus, but they weren't Syrus either. One could say that they had sprung from Syrus's head like Athena from the head of Zeus.

However that wasn't the case here. Twitchy and Frenzy were born from his mind, yes, but they were created from fragments of his mind. This was what threw Jason. If they were born from a fragment of his mind, they had to be personalities. They weren't personalities; they were just fragments of his mind that had been created to serve a purpose that he couldn't do. He gave them life and a mind of their own. They didn't think like Syrus and they didn't act like him either. They were, for the better part, a real living, sentient form of life.

"I'm a cheap bastard. That's why."

"Figures. No wonder you live in one room at your house Slade provides. Why do that anyways? You could live with us at the base."

"No thanks. Last time I stayed in the base for a month, I got shot, stabbed twice, and then had Rose wake me with grenade when she was on her period." Rose reached over and punched him for that. "There was also the time when she punched me in the face, nearly destroying my right eye and then there was the time I walked in on her while she was playing with a dildo that she then proceeded to smash over my face."

"She just punched you in the right eye," Frenzy pointed out thoughtfully. He tapped one of the mandibles that formed his mouth and then looked over the platinum haired girl. "So how was your last little shindig with the new guy?"

Rose sigh of frustration answered that. Jason already had a reputation for not being able to work well with the blond. They got the job done, but that was about it. It was the same as a job you hated when you worked with another person. You just droned through to get the job done and that was it. With Rose it was a little different.

"We accomplished our job but Naruto has a real problem with authority. He wants to do things his way. He doesn't follow orders and he sees me more as a psycho bitch than anything else."

"Maybe threatening to shoot him isn't the best way to make him see you as a friend." Jason muttered. He took a long pull from his drink and then sighed. "So is Slade still mad at Syrus for seeing him before he would allow it?"

"Not really. Nothing bad happened from it though. Although… Naruto seemed disturbed after their meeting. He's talking with Syrus and father right now."

Frenzy gave a low hum as his eyes sparkled for a moment.

(-)

Naruto threw his shirt on as he stood up off the table.

"So it is leaving my system?"

"So it would seem."

Somehow, Naruto felt pleased by that statement. Even in knowing that it was leaving his system he was happy. Death would take him and he would certainly be allowed to finally see his family. They were dead and he would be rejoined with them. In all actuality it wasn't that which pleased him. Kyuubi would die as well. He was a deathless creature, but chakra wasn't something they had here, so he couldn't reappear in this world like he did in their world.

_I can deny the Akatsuki their prize. Even in death, I will defy everyone and everything. I don't mind. I'm not doing it for my country. I'm doing it for my own will._

"You will die without this, correct?"

"Yes. My people need it to live. Even our citizens have this running through them."

"And the second chakra source? Do they have it as well?"

The blond grunted and sat back down on the table. Two months flew by fast and while Naruto hadn't told them about Kyuubi, the fact that Syrus could scan his head and see waves meant he understood something wasn't normal with him. While this was a concern for him, he was thankful that neither Slade nor Syrus pushed him for answers. They were eager to learn about that energy, but they weren't going to rush whatever they were planning.

"Only a few people have that kind that I know about. Others have imitations."

Syrus got some sort of an answer out of that. He just nodded like he understood and pointed at another scanner.

The blond sighed and did as instructed. Tests were a common thing it would seem. Syrus was so fascinated with his body that Naruto felt like he spent more time here with the strange teen than he did out there doing jobs. He needed to learn how to use their technology so he could find and kill the Akatsuki. That was what he wanted to do. He wanted to kill them just so he could say he did and then dance on their tombstones. They ruined his life; one of which ruined it for two reasons. Kyuubi ruined his life as well, but his death was going to be oh-so sweet. Naruto was going relish in the irony of a deathless creature dying from chakra loss of all things.

"_Limitless my ass. Everything has a limit. Isn't that right, you furry bastard?"_

Naruto didn't get a reply. Kyuubi had first told him about his chakra leaving his system. He didn't say anything about his own chakra, just that Naruto's chakra was in fact leaving his body. Naruto put the facts together pretty fast. Even if Kyuubi had higher reserves than he did, all he had to do was waste his power in fights. Use Kyuubi's power instead of his own and he kills him faster while he lives longer. That sounded like the greatest strategy ever.

Kyuubi didn't have anything to say on that regard, though. He kept quiet. Naruto didn't care. He was happy with the silent treatment. One of the greatest things that he knew about death was the shock value it had. Denial, acceptance, and then panic. Obviously not in that order, but Kyuubi was obviously at one of those stages. Denial sounded about right.

"I see. I would very much like to go to your world at some point. The fact that near all of your people can do the same things that you can interest me to no end. If possible, I would like to analyze those other nine that came with you. Even a corpse will do. Mother would be very pleased to have one of them."

"I'm not leaving anything for you to scavenge if I can help it. I will burn their bodies into ash and throw them in to the wind."

"Ash works just as well. I can re-engineer just about anything. Mother could actually take a piece of the ash and reverse engineer it into its original form, but without it being alive."

"Those people will die by my hands. Whether I leave anything for you to scan depends on the mood I'm in when I kill them."

"Such a shame then. Oh well. If anything, I can analyze you and get a baseline for what they can do. But none of them have that red power you have, correct?"

"Correct. Though two of them have something with their eyes that could count as that, I suppose. One can see the future with his eyes and the other seems to be able to never allow him to be hit so long as another person with his eyes is on the battlefield."

"See the future? Logically, someone who is living in the future is dead. So many unknowns are out there. If I drop this pencil ninety-nine times and it falls in the same way and lands in the same way each time, would that mean that the one hundredth time it would fall in the exact same way?" Naruto nodded. "Wrong. Logically, it is possible for it to happen. But just because it can happen, doesn't mean it will happen. If I drop the pencil and he sees that it will fall in the exact same way as before, and it floats to ceiling instead, won't that screw him over? A change in the future has come about."

"He doesn't see that far into the future. It's your movements by studying your muscles. They can read your muscles and understand what you're going to do before you even realize what you're going to do. It's like he's thinking two moves ahead of you."

"That's different. That's not seeing the future."

"It's how it was described to me."

"Then whoever described it to you is obviously an idiot."

Naruto laughed as a result. Wasn't it Kakashi that said that? He heard it once. Zabuza asked if he could and then Kakashi had said that he could. So it wasn't actually explained. Kakashi lied to him. He could live with that answer. Kakashi was an asshole anyways. Didn't train him. Didn't see anything good in him. The only person who had seen anything good in him was Jiraiya. Poor man was dead and Naruto felt responsible. It was Pein that did it. He was going to get his revenge on him for that too.

Syrus did something and the scanner came online. Naruto liked this metal a lot. It wasn't cold like anything he'd ever touched before. It was warm. He couldn't tell when it was finished with whatever it was doing or when it started. The inside of his body was rather fun to look at it and ask questions about. The pathways for his chakra were actually very interesting to look at. He hadn't given it much thought on how or where his second chakra source was located physically in his body. It was near his stomach, right over the seal actually. It was something that only the deep scanners could find on him.

The alien teen gave out an exasperated sigh of frustration. "You can get up now. I'm going to need more blood by the way."

"Why do you always need more of my blood?"

"Honestly, it's for testing. You energy is leaving your body, as you know. You say that it'll kill you when it is fully gone. I'm not sure how, but I don't see how it can kill you when it's gone? It makes no sense. That's actually why I'd like a corpse for study. Mother would love one as well. Finding just one of those members would actually allow me to analyze a way to come up with a solution for keeping you alive. I can look into ways to reproducing your blue energy. It'll take time, but I think I can replicate it if I have enough understanding on your bodies. Just one body will be enough for me. Two would be even better. They don't even have to match perfectly with you. Older. Younger. It makes no difference."

"What about fish?"

"Fish?"

"Among their members is a man with blue skin that turns into a shark of some sort. He takes his sword into his body and became a shark creature. He moves very fast in the water."

"Fish is different from shark, but I now want his corpse for study also. Can you change into anything like what he can?"

"Yes. But it's not pretty and it doesn't play well with others. I can't control it. Not to mention touching it with anything is out of the question. It burns anything to death because of how poisonous it is."

"Sounds like something mother would want to take a look at."

"Are you done with him for the day, Syrus?" Slade asked.

Syrus pulled out a syringe. "Almost. Why do you need him? For another mission?"

"I'm heading to the H.I.V.E Academy to look at their students to see if any of them have any promise. I figured that it would do him some wonders to go meet some new faces."

Naruto rolled his eyes. He didn't wanna go anywhere that didn't involve a job of some sort or the Akatsuki. Two months and not a peep out of them. Slade said he'd been monitoring the world in an attempt to find them, but that wasn't going well. Naruto tried to point him in the right direction about them. They traveled in pairs and some of them had large weapons. Explaining the fact that they could turn into anyone they wanted was the real downfall, alongside the fact that they could seal these large weapons into something small. Slade, after that, had just decided to hand it off to Syrus, explaining that anyone matching the descriptions that Naruto gave via a henge would be the only way to find them. Syrus would monitor the entire world via his own private network and work as a filter system. Anyone that matched the descriptions past fifty percent would be handed off to Slade for further inspection. They weren't in America at the moment, so they figured they were clear. That didn't please Naruto at all.

"Does he need his suit? I was going to try some upgrades to it so that it can keep his energy from leaving his body."

"No. He won't be needing it." _Not that he really needs it anyways. If Brother Blood hasn't gotten anyone special, I highly doubt he'd need it for anything other than protection from whatever weapons they use. _"Let's get you dressed so we can go."

"Whatever," he grumbled, only to pause a moment later. "Why are we going to this place, anyways?"

"I'm still looking for some recruits to fill in some spots. Not that I'm badmouthing Syrus and his tech, but we need another female in the group. Rose won't leave me alone about it and she forbids Syrus from building another robot."

Said teen rolled his eyes at the last comment. Robots worked perfectly. It was like what the demolition squads of this world would say: If at first you don't succeed, C4. Or something like that.

"I for one agree with her on this. Though, she's not really got any say in this. I'm only going because we do need someone else and it would be a good idea for it to be female if it can happen. After all; I'm making her my heir. I'd like to leave a reliable team with her for when I die so she can take over and have a group she can use. I'm sure you can understand that."

The blond nodded mutely.

"Good. Now let's get you dressed."

(-)

Beast Boy covered his good eye and tried to see the tofu with his bad eye. It wasn't even there. Blind spot, perhaps?

_Who am I kidding? I should just remove the thing and be done with it. I can't even see out of it anymore. It's actually stopped working._

He scarfed down his tofu and then started cleaning up the mess. For a bunch of teens with superpowers that fought crime, saved the day, and were all around good guys that lived in a giant tower shaped like a capital letter; he found it odd that they couldn't really keep up with cleaning the place. That was the strangest thing in the world. Robin was a former sidekick to Batman, the legendary Dark Knight of Gotham. Starfire was a princess from another planet. Raven was from another dimension and kept her room so clean that dust didn't seem exist in there at all. Cyborg was part machine, probably the smartest person on the team, and always obsessed over making sure everything was in working order in his room.

Yet despite that, they couldn't keep the kitchen clean, they always lost the remote to the television, they never swept, dusted, or vacuumed the place, couldn't take out the trash, keep up with groceries, flush the toilet, and they couldn't clean the place up for guests. That could have been part of the reason for why Kid Flash decided to move out. They just couldn't keep the place cleaned.

_Why I'm thinking about this now? _

He shrugged and finished up with his job of cleaning the dishes. It would have been nice to actually have some help, but he wasn't going to complain for the time being. He was too tired to complain.

He finished then dished and then checked the refrigerator. Something was alive inside the thing and that was all the reason he needed to grab everything out of there and throw it away. Part of whatever it was that might have been alive was something Starfire cooked up. He could have sworn that at one time she cooked something that looked like a squid and a turtle combined and melted down into something that looked like Plasmus. Not a good set of memories.

Grabbing up the full bag he turned into a gorilla and hauled it out. There wasn't anything as funny as watching a gorilla taking out the trash. The others had said it was funny to see when they first saw him do it.

"What's eating you?"

Beast Boy slammed the lid down on the trashcan. He didn't mean to.

"Nothing," he lied. He knew that Cyborg could tell he was lying. He was sure that a total stranger could tell he was lying. "I'm not lying either."

"Now I know you're lying."

Beast Boy laughed, despite himself.

"I'm fine. Having a few days off to get my head clear really helped. Thanks for smoothing it over with Robin. I'm sure he wasn't all thrilled to know I was taking time off after that fight with E-057." The tin teen nodded mutely and patted his small friend on the shoulder. "I wonder how come we haven't seen them since that day. I'm not looking for revenge or anything, but it's been two months. We can't go a week without seeing Cinderblock or Mad Mod!"

"Those guys haven't appeared here because they've been off on other parts of the world doing things. Didn't you hear from Robin about the attack in Paris? The two same people appeared there and they killed someone. Mind you, the person they killed had a few dirty things come to light. Personally, that guy should have been dealt with sooner. But that's just me personally."

Beast Boy decided to let that one go.

He returned inside where he finished taking care of cleaning the place up. Starfire found him and started helping him near the end. The alarms went off and the others quickly headed out. Beast Boy was ordered to stay behind and coordinate with the police. He didn't care in end. It was all done to protect him. He was becoming a liability.

(-)

A change in outward appearances was the first step towards changing ones' self.

Naruto fiddled with the loose-fit black shirt. It was too loose in his opinion, just like the blue jeans he wore. The shirt was tucked inside his jeans. He had a pair of brown boots to match, along with a white jean jacket. Rose had been the one to take him shopping two months ago and chose this kind of clothing for him. He didn't really like it, but if he wanted to change this was the only way to start.

"I'll be speaking with Brother Blood for a while. You can go inspect the others if you wish."

Naruto said nothing as he continued to fiddle with his shirt. Something this loose was a little unsettling. Rose said he looked good. Naruto thought otherwise.

The blond walked off, leaving Slade to do whatever it was he wanted to do. He didn't really have much of a place he wanted to go to. Sure he knew a few people here, but one or two didn't amount to much. He didn't know the layout of the place. It was amazing that Slade even allowed that. Why was he letting him go off on his own anyways? Surely he'd have a handler or something. Slade was just too trusting in him.

He walked for several minutes just looking for something fun to do or look at. He wanted to look at something that wasn't yellow walls that reminded him a beehive. He remembered Iruka's lesson on how honey was made. These walls reminded him of that.

_I wonder if Iruka knew about the betrayal. Wonder if he had a part in it._

He tried to put it out of his mind and focus more on the strange letters that were associated with their writing and language. He knew enough to get by now. He wasn't great. The device that he used to speak with the others doubled as a learning device by taking the words he spoke and teaching it to him. Understanding what he was reading was a different thing. Jason was helping him with that part, but that was being done slowly. Syrus promised to help him, but the blond was a little worried about what he might try.

He wanted to find a place to be alone mostly. After his first mission two months ago he had accumulated some sort of a rep with the normal foes for the Teen Titans. This was his fourth trip here. The first three had involved him staying with Slade most of the time. He hadn't really been allowed to go ten feet away from him unless Jason or Rose came with him. Jason came for the third trip out here and went to explore with Naruto. Naruto hadn't really found anything worth looking at and had simply returned to Slade after his meeting with one of the girls of the Academy. Jason had run off, stirred up some trouble, and was permanently banned from coming back after he caused a minor scene. In reality, it wasn't his fault. Brother Blood was furious over the whole event.

Naruto found the scent of water and went for it. Water usually meant outdoors, which meant clean air and endless skies. He could go for that.

He walked through a few sliding doors as he chased the scent down and then found it in the form of a large indoor pool. The pool was very big, actually. There were a few people around just sitting and talking. Some wore masks and dorky looking outfits. Naruto could handle the suit he was always in for combat. It protected him. Some of these people wore tights with a symbol on their chest and walked around like they were bullet proof. Naruto wasn't bullet proof. He knew that personally. He got shot twice already. Bullet hurts more than kunai to him.

A few heads turned, but none dared to get up and greet him. Word traveled fast about him. A man training with Deathstroke the Terminator, beating four of the five Teen Titans, outmuscling their two physically strongest members and terrifying another one after only giving him a few hits. Not many people here were brave enough to talk to him. It seemed that just being in the same group with Slade was enough to warrant some respect from these people.

The blond moved towards the water and to a spot less crowded. Their eyes still followed him.

The click of his boots on the stone floor was the only sound he heard for a while. He eventually found what he was looking for.

She was in the water like she had been the last three times he had seen her. The first time it had been different from this.

**Flashback**

Clad in his uniform, Naruto walked through the halls of the H.I.V.E Academy with Slade trailing behind him. Brother Blood was talking about something or another. Naruto didn't catch all of the conversation, but he understood that he was talking about the students and what they could do and what powers they actually had. Jason had said that the place was a little on the strange side. If this man was pimping out his students, he was doing a lousy job.

"..assrooms are right here with the highest grades, best powers, and highest levels of combat. Would you prefer a demonstration of their skills?"

"No thank you. I would rather much like to just observer them." Naruto peered through one of the windows and snorted. "You dislike classrooms?"

"Something like that."

Naruto walked out of the hidden room and walked in to the classroom. No one turned to face him. Most didn't even acknowledge that he had entered. The teacher was the only one that noticed him, but she didn't say anything and went back to teaching the class. The blond walked all the way to the side of the classroom and tried to make out what the teacher was talking about. It was something about the cause and effect of nuclear detonation and why using them as a means of getting what you wanted wasn't the smartest idea. She did cover on how it was an effective means of getting what you wanted if it was used as a means of threat.

Other theories and lessons were presented about alien technology and why using it wasn't a wise idea unless you had a certain IQ. There was one about inner-dimensional travel and why it was something you don't use, along with time travel under a few good exceptions, one of which was screwing up your rivals' past by taking something of theirs. Naruto didn't understand why you would do such a thing. Seemed stupid. Syrus said that time travel was forbidden even for criminals.

"Class is dismissed."

The entire room came alive. Five teens turned on one girl and began laughing at her.

At first they simply made fun of her grades. She wasn't the smartest person in the class that consisted of the smartest members for their grade. She was the weakest link apparently even if she was very smart. It then turned to jokes and then turned to her form. Naruto saw nothing wrong with it. She had a long lizard-like tail, her entire body was covered by green-blue scales, and her ears were large fins. He thought she looked like Isaribi. She sported a white tattoo that looked tribal in nature right under her right eye. Her hair was bleach white, and her eyes were an even brighter white. What clothing she did wear consisted of medieval chest plate that matched her scales and matching grieves.

The jokes continued until one of the teens shoved her out of her chair and stole her paper she was working on.

The blond reached over and grabbed a pencil from the table and flipped it a few times. The students hadn't noticed him yet.

The teacher looked at him for a moment then turned away. The blond shrugged and let the pencil fly. All manner of talking stopped as they heard their companion start screaming as the pencil flew through his ear, followed by a tiny thwack as the pencil made contact with the metal wall on the other side of the room. The girl they were pestering ran out after grabbing her stuff and vanished. The teens that were making fun of her didn't follow.

"What the hell was that for, punk?"

Naruto blinked behind the mask he wore. Decked out in his full suit, they couldn't see him scowling at them. The teacher had long since left as well.

"I'm talking to you!" The teen shoved him back. Naruto didn't budge. "Silent type, huh? Just like that crazy assassin Cheshire."

"Don't make fun of others, kid." Naruto pointed at the wall. The group turned to see the pencil stuck halfway in on the metal wall. "Next time I won't aim for an ear. I'll aim for your head."

The teen that was now bleeding from the ear laughed and raised a pistol. It was an odd looking thing.

"How about I just go ahead and blow your head off?"

Naruto pushed the gun away from his face. The teen pulled the trigger and the round bounded around the room twice before stopping. Naruto hissed at him and spun him. His face bounced off the metal wall and blood oozed out of his broken nose and mouth. Angered by the single shot the teen pulled off, Naruto broke his arm, took the pistol, and shot him once in the leg. The teen screamed so loud that he overpowered the sound of the gun going off. He pulled the firing pin and broke the weapon apart, but kept the firing pin. He dropped the remains on the ground and walked over the screaming teen.

The Jinchuuriki walked off while the group grabbed up their friend for a visit to the medical wing. Naruto caught the tail end of, "Oh shit! Isn't he the new apprentice for Deathstroke?" as he headed out.

He followed her trail as he hunted her down. She was an anomaly to him. He knew about a lot of races from just talking with Syrus. The teen was an alien, though he found that term a little harsh and not accurate enough to describe himself or his race. They were called Creatorian, not aliens. The word 'alien' had only one real meaning here: someone that came here illegally. Syrus, technically, is an alien under that reason. He came to Earth without consent from the U.S Government for where he lived. So he was technically an alien under that reason alone.

He found her at the pool in the deep end. The entire place was empty say for the girl in question. She swam around on the bottom of the pool in circles. Naruto watched her for the eight minutes she remained down there. Finally she surfaced just enough so that her head was out of the water.

"Why did you defend me?"

"Why didn't you defend yourself?"

She looked away. "I'm not the strongest girl her. My powers reside over water. No water means I can't fight. No point in fighting a lost battle."

"Standing up for yourself would end that problem. Why not do it anyways?"

"No point. I'm used to it."

Naruto understood that and sat down on the edge. His feet dangled off the side and fell into the water. Syrus hadn't said if the suit was waterproof or not. He didn't feel cold or wet. Maybe it was waterproof.

"You know it's only going to be worse for now because of what you did. Those guys don't like it when people stand up to them. They'll think you did it for me because I asked you to or something. They're delusional and idiotic."

"Then I gave you a starting point for standing up for yourself." The sound of metal on stone had him turn just enough to see Slade looking at the two with Brother Blood looking very annoyed. "Tell your students to not make fun of their comrades."

"How about you not nearly kill me students and I'll consider it," Blood hissed. A wave of the hand from Slade had him recoiling a bit. "You approve of his barbarity? He broke Mr. Steels arm and shot him in the leg. You will never bring this boy here again, Deathstroke."

"Then you lose my business and support." Blood sighed and looked away. "I got you out of prison for a reason. Now live up to it. Unless you'd rather go back. I can arrange that for you." The man grumbled something and started walking away. His metallic feet pounding in the ground as he walked off. "Rogue, we're leaving. We have a few things to take care of before we can come back to start looking for a new recruit."

The blond rolled his eyes as Slade wondered off to take care of whatever it was he had to do. He honestly couldn't care less at the moment. Removing his helmet, he shook his hair from his eyes and said, "It's Naruto. I'll be seeing you around."

**Present Day**

Just like what had happened before, he found her at the deepest part of the pool all by herself. She swam on the bottom of the pool. It was three hundred feet deep and crystal clear. Naruto hadn't ever seen a lake that clean, let alone a pool back home. They were grimy, nasty looking things. Then again, the pools he often visited were rundown and ran by drunks that Jiraiya had known. Good people when they were sober. Craziest people alive when they were drunk.

He didn't have to wait long before she surfaced and smiled at him.

Since their first encounter they had become friends. Their second meeting had been a bit shorter than the third, but the second one had solidified their friendship. She wasn't really a bad person. She was an Atlantian that was shunned because of what she was: A Leviathan. Leviathans were mythical and powerful warriors of great calamity among the Atlantians. Their power was so great and terrible that they had to live away from the cities. Even at a young age they were powerful. People shunned them for what they could do and rarely called upon them for anything other than battles, but even then those times were rare. Who wanted a natural calamity on their battlefield?

Leviathan went by that name because it fit her a lot more than anything else she could come up with. Her mother had given her a name, but she had forgotten it shortly after her mother died. Being called by what she was had imposed the name on her. So it was all she remembered of her name.

Her power over water was the coolest thing Naruto had ever seen. She could make it float in the air, spin around, and even make it do tricks. He admitted to being jealous, but explained to her that he had a bit of control over wind. While he didn't say much on his past, she understood enough in the way he looked after her to know that he had been subjected to the same thing she had been. Somehow they became friends and any time they had to show up he sought her out. It was better than roaming the halls and looking through all the other classes. Slade timed these meetings a little too well.

"How long are you here for this time?"

Naruto laughed nervously. "I'm not sure." He scratched at his nose and looked down the length of the pool. Other students were leaving. Did they fear him that much? "Any problems with the other students?"

"You shot one, stabbed another, and broke the first guys' arm after our first meeting. No one wants to talk to me for fear of meeting Deathstroke's new apprentice."

"Not really his apprentice. We're just working together. I don't like him and he knows it. I'm only doing this to further my own ends."

She didn't know about the Akatsuki. She knew about the attack in Tulcea and she knew that he worked for Deathstroke. She had no idea where he came from, but she did understand his little issue with technology. It was kind of funny to watch him struggle with a phone or anything else that required a sensitive touch.

"They haven't been causing you any problems though, have they?" She shook her head and jumped out of the pool. If she was wearing clothing, he couldn't tell. Her scales made it hard for him to figure out if she was or wasn't. _Isaribi didn't wear cloths when she transformed, or maybe her clothing is a part of her scales and I just couldn't tell the difference. _"Well as long as they leave you alone, I won't have problems with them. Can't stand other people that pick on others for no reason."

"Then you are in the wrong line of work."

"No. I'm doing the only thing I know how to do. Killing people and making fun of them are two different things."

"You guys don't do death threats through some form of communication while not being there? Like through the mail?" Naruto shook his head. Why would a mercenary stoop so low as to do that, anyways? "Well, it's not like it really matters in the end. It's the job that counts, right?" Naruto nodded. "Mercenaries love their money. Shame that most actually get greedy enough to challenge the world with it and think they're kings. We did a lesson on that the other day. They say that some mercenaries end up becoming villains because they think they're untouchable."

"That's stupid."

"You mean to tell me that you don't think you're untouchable? Just because you can beat up some of these idiots, doesn't mean you're strong. If could take down the entire Teen Titans group in Jump City, then you'd probably have a taste for it." She sounded rather pleased by that very idea.

The blond dug his hands into his pockets and made a sharp growl. He pulled out a small black device. He tapped the screen, but nothing happened. It was an annoying noise that he didn't understand. It was some sort of music that had people screaming. He didn't like it. Too noisy for his taste. He tapped the screen again and again but nothing happened. It finally was silenced and he smiled. "Damn thing. Why do I have to carry one of these? Radios work just fine?"

"Radios can only broadcast so far. I doubt that the person calling you is from the surface. We're eight thousand feet down under water. So that means that person calling you is in this place. Unless they came out with a new phone that I'm not aware of."

Naruto was about to make a snide remark on the thing and this worlds' technology when it started making the noise again. He got ready to chunk the thing when Leviathan grabbed his wrist and carefully drug her finger across a green icon.

"_Holy hell he picked up! It's the end of the world! We're doomed, people! We are doomed! He knows how to answer his phone!"_

Naruto stared at it and then at Leviathan. She backed away to give him some privacy for his call. "Hello?"

"_Stupid! Put the phone next to your ear if you can hear me! Ten dollars says he doesn't! Any takers?"_

Naruto did as instructed and put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"_Fuck! I'm out of ten dollars because of you! Hey, listen, Deathstroke wants you to bring Leviathan with you to the arena, not that you'll know the location of the arena, but she will. Ravenger will be there to pick you up."_

"Who is this?"

"_Well let's see. I said that Deathstroke wanted you to bring the girl with you. I said that Ravenger will meet you somewhere between where you're at and the arena. Ankh never leaves the base. Twitchy and Frenzy are also at the base, though I'm unsure if Twitchy really is there at all actually. So that only leaves one person."_

"So this is Deathstroke? You sound funny over this thing."

"_It's Jason, you fucking retard! Do I really sound like Deathstroke? What? How am I understanding you? You're still stuck on one language and I don't speak Japanese."_

Naruto sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Jason had a valid question. One that Naruto couldn't answer because he didn't know how this was being done either. Syrus could probably tell him and make him confused and then leave him wondering what new surprises there would be for him with their technology. "No idea." He crushed the phone with his hand and tossed it in the nearest trashcan and then watched as the trashcan sudden imploded and burst into flames, leaving only ash behind. "They called me to tell you that we need to go to the arena. Ravenger will meet me somewhere and take me somewhere or something like that."

"Why did you break your phone? And why did it suddenly combust?"

"I don't know how shut it off. Don't even care that it can do that either. I'm not big on technology like that anyways. it doesn't work around me."

Leviathan made a strange face. How could someone not know how to work a phone?

(-)

Slade rubbed the side of his head as he tried to understand this part of the plan. Syrus had monitored everyone and everything they did in the H.I.V.E Academy and knew about what the Headmaster could do in terms of power. Slade and the others all possessed a special device that blocked telepathy users. These items came in the designs of watches, rings, and earrings. Whether Brother Blood knew or not was unknown.

Brother Blood had monitored every visit with near sickening levels of understanding. Being a man who could read minds made him really sick at times. He knew why Slade wanted a new recruit and what he was looking for. He was looking for someone with a unique skill set that he liked, someone that could be molded into someone fit for their jobs. Most importantly; he wanted someone that had mystical powers.

In the past four trips up here Slade had found and took personal interest in five people. Leviathan secretly made a sixth. He liked her because of what came out of Naruto as a result of them being near one another. He wasn't a cruel person that demanded everyone do their assigned tasks without cause or reason. He had a heart too. Business just happened to get the better of him at times.

It was the way Naruto acted around her that made him interested in her. Naruto was still very closed off from the team. Yet this girl he'd never laid eyes on was someone he opened up to. He came to her aid. He showed her his face, despite the order not to reveal himself. And he told her his name. That alone gave Slade great interest in the girl.

_If we couldn't do and she could, does mean that he takes pity on her because of her looks? Maybe it was because of how she was treated. Naruto looks like the type that wouldn't get along well in classrooms. There was even his answer when I asked him about it. He shrugged it off. He might have been a very bad student and just got hated as a result._

"The five that you took interest in are down there now, Deathstroke," Brother Blood announced with a certain glee. "Inspect them if you wish before they fight."

"I have no reason to inspect them. They know why they're present, yes?"

"Of course. I explained to all of the people you took an interest in on why they were to come here today." He paused and touched the side of his head. "I see. So you called her here as well."

Slade touched the side of his head, feeling the tingling sense of his own object that told him Brother Blood was trying to read his mind. His expression promised pain. "Do that again, and I will stick you back in your cell. Personally, I think you rather belong there than in a classroom teaching students about how to be better criminals. One doesn't teach another how to do it effectively. You learn how to do it on your own." Brother Blood grumbled something that Slade thankfully didn't catch. "Begin the first test. I'm already growing tired of this place."

(-)

Rose waited by the entrance to the arena in her suit.

Unlike Naruto, she actually didn't want people knowing her by name or by face. She could handle the suit and her code name, but her real face and real name were out of the question. They got lucky with Naruto. Only Leviathan knew his real name. Syrus confirmed that by checking all the audio logs, everyone that was in the area at the time, and constantly monitored the voice chatter from everyone in the academy. Syrus was a fun person to be around. He was a good person. Give him a task to do and he'd do it. Nothing would stop him short of an apocalypse or invasion of another alien species. Thankfully, none of that had happened… yet.

The whole thing really stunk to her. Slade wanted a new recruit. It was understandable. They needed more members. They only needed one for the moment. Rose wanted another female companion on the team. Sure Cassandra counted as a female, but she spoke to you in your mind. This was done through Syrus's technology. It was something he came up for her to use and while it did break standard procedures concerning technology he was creating for their world, it was something she really did need since he couldn't stand not hearing her voice. Not that Rose didn't like her for that little mind-talking thing. It was just unsettling to have a voice in your head that wasn't your own. Plus, Cassandra was a bit… shy and reserved. She was always around Syrus, but that was for legitimate reason. Taking her shopping was a bit of a pain because she didn't know how to fully act in those environments, and the real kicker was that she was a wanted person by her family.

Cassandra Cain was probably the only person that Rose knew of that suffered the same sort of life she had. Cassandra was trained to be a killer. She was strong, fast, smart, and could take any sort of punishment without batting an eyelash. She was the ultimate assassin. However, she broke off from that life, trying to escape it as best she could. Her skills were only set to one thing: Killing. Slade found her, took her in, and promised her a good life. She had been with them for years now, working alongside Syrus. The girl opened up to him, seeing him as a way out of the false life she had been given at birth. Syrus was dating her, though that was a secret from the world.

What the world did know about her was that she was Cassie who worked as an assistant for Syrus at Syntek, which was named in honor of his father. Syrus was president of the company and built just about anything that wouldn't break the treaty with the Green Lantern Corps about alien technology being sold and built on planet Earth. They didn't know he was an alien, all thanks to the fact that he logged himself into the Governmental systems as a metahuman. Syrus paced himself rather well, coming out with only the next step in technology rather than blowing everyone away with it.

The only times Syrus blew their minds with technology was when he was designing something for his people. Rose had wandered in one time while he was speaking with his father about something and was blown away at the designs of a ship. It was a beautiful to her. Very sleek, effective looking, and it didn't go off the idea of looking cool. The thing was of the Stealth Class. When it went dark, it literally went dark. No thermals. No emissions of any kind. Not even a sound could be heard from the thing. The hull was made out of some sort of a photo reflective platting that was shielded to all forms of EMP and wouldn't show something in a different position like stars in the distance. The weapons it was outfitted with were so beyond her that trying to simply understand their names was out of her league, let alone what they did.

She did understand one of the weapons though. It was a high-yield, explosive that worked like a nuke. It could detonate remotely or by proximity. When it detonated it was of the five thousand megaton type. This weapon was beyond human understanding because it didn't explode in an uncontrolled state. It detonated inwardly; working as an implosion weapon that wouldn't go beyond its own predetermined limits. It was a quantum fusion implosion device.

Basically, she walked away understanding that the blast was beyond human scale with all of their nukes, if it was detonated in space it would not only blow everything to smithereens, but it would also melt anything that didn't get blown away into oblivion and then somehow through quantum physics, time, space, and gravity, turn into a mini blackhole that would last for about two seconds with a diameter that of the blast itself. This obviously wasn't a weapon you fire at point blank range or something you would use only a daily basis to her knowledge. The ship was cool. The weapons were scary.

And yet despite all of that, Syrus lived on Earth, owned his own billion dollar company, was in a relationship with Cassandra, worked for Slade as their operator in the field, and made technology for the world that improved cellphone batter life, signal strength, made cars safer to drive, offered jobs to teens that didn't know what to do with their lives, and produced other forms of technology on a smaller, more effective scale than what someone like Wayne, Lex, or STAR Labs could offer. He didn't reach for the stars. He just made things a bit better, but not everything. He didn't solve the world's food problem. He still hadn't found a cure for any incurable dieses at the moment. All he did was, make things a little easier for people. No point in fixing every problem in the world. Even he knew that.

But even with all his smarts, he still made some of the stupidest things. He made Twitchy; an insane, demented, and irrational little robot that defied every known levels of physics to man. More than once he had done something so crazy that made crazy people look sane. He was completely insane, didn't care about anything else, spoke so random at times that Slade wanted him destroyed, and he had a strange habit of defying almost everything imaginable. It was like he was created with the power to distort reality. More than once he had been stripped of his ammo, watched carefully, and somehow managed to still shoot his enemies even after having been stripped of his ammo.

This was why she didn't want Syrus building another person for their team. Twitchy was so insane that she feared he might make another variant of Twitchy, probably even more crazy than Twitchy himself. Sure, robots were good creations of Syrus, but she wanted something she could touch and not worry about jamming her finger in-between two pieces of metal.

Leviathan and Naruto showed up.

Leviathan immediately sized her up, looking a little put off by her suit and her figure.

"You Ravenger," Leviathan asked heatedly.

Rose smiled behind her mask _Jealous much? _"That would be me. I'm to take Naruto here to the seats we have for this little show. Naruto, any final words you want to impart on her?"

The blond looked past her and towards the arena. It was very bland, offering no protection and certainly no advantage for anyone that needed an outside source for their abilities.

Instead of answering her, he grabbed a water bottle from his coat pocket and gave it to her. "Good luck out there." He patted her on the shoulder, smiled, and then walked off with Rose.

"They're going to team up against her. Don't go rushing off to her aid unless Deathstroke wants her for this team. Got it?"

"I'll do what I want."

Rose sighed. Of course he was going to be hardheaded about this. Why wouldn't he be?

(-)

Leviathan stood beside her fellow student Grave in line. Before them stood the projected image of Brother Blood. He looked a little worried, but made sure it was hard to notice. This was a bright day in his eyes. It was a well-deserved and great day for the six that were up here. Not many ever got to be the apprentice/new recruit for a big named man like Deathstroke. This was like Superman taking on a sidekick.

"_You six will demonstrate your combat prowess in the form of combat and your unique powers."_ Brother Blood seemed to be pleased with the way he said that. _"You will go in order. Any deviation and you will answer to Deathstroke himself. Is that clear?"_

"Yes, Headmaster."

He smiled and waved a hand. His image faded and Leviathan looked over at the first person in line. It was Rusty.

_I'm here for what reason? _

(-)

Up in the stands, Jason sat with a rifle in hand and thoughts of beer or any other form of liquid on his mind. His job was to be the eyes and ears for Syrus.

Whether Naruto knew it or not, Slade had already made his choice. Jason and Rose both knew because Slade already told them. This test was just to see what they would have to work on for Leviathan. She was a good girl. She had a nice form for her combat. She was smart for what they needed. She had mystical properties. And she could work underwater without the need for any gear like what they would. She could easily double as a spy if they actually needed her for it.

The downside to all of this was that while she was something that they needed, Jason knew it wasn't just for her skills, but for what she did to Naruto. None of them could open him up.

"Can you see?"

"_I've already hacked their monitors and have control of all their systems. For a school that teaches kids how to be effective criminals they sure don't have a good security system. I've seen other companies with better systems than this." _Syrus sighed. _"Those other five down there are Rusty, Blaze, D, Sona, and Pants. Odd name for a girl. Pants? What sort of name is that?"_

"Ankh, there's a guy out there that Batman fights that calls himself Calendarman. I think the creative names have all been taken."

"_Actually…"_

"Don't care. Monitor the girl so we can know what we need to work on with."

Silence was what he wanted. Silence from Syrus. He liked the guy, but damn he could be so misunderstanding at times. Logic was everything to him and his people. Things had to be logical.

Increasing the zoom on his HUD to times ten, he watched as the first teen did his thing. His file had him as Rusty. It wasn't a code name or his real name. He never came up with a code name and his real name wasn't given. He either didn't give it or it had been removed from their files. For this part of the test it was pretty simple. All you had to do was show what your power was. Rusty waved one hand forward and the large yellow hunk of metal began to waver. It was several seconds before Jason took notice of what was happening to it.

"_Accelerated time distortion," _Syrus said calmly. _"Every one second that goes by, a year and a half goes by in the field."_

Jason whistled. That was pretty impressive. But metal could last a long time. It took four more minutes before the structure began to falter. It finally fell and Jason could tell that took a lot out of the guy. As soon as the object had rusted away he doubled over and began to catch his breath. His power was taxing. Reading up on his file, his power could only be done forward, not backwards. He could only accelerate time in a quarantined area and not move it. Once it was in place, it would stay there until ended. And at one year a second, while that was fast, wouldn't catch any of the normal heroes that were always on the move.

The next was Pants. Her power couldn't be consider magic, but it couldn't be consider elemental either. She projected an aura from her body and used it to form spectral limbs to crush and obliterate anything she touched. The strength it possessed was beyond superhuman levels. But it was slow moving. In the time it took for her to grab the newly formed yellow block, her target could easily have moved out of the way and countered her. Powerful but slow moving wasn't something they needed anyways.

Blaze stepped up next, grinning as he produced a white flame from his arms. The entire rooms' temperature shot up several degrees. Jason sure didn't feel it. He could see it affected the others though. Almost everyone began to sweat immediately. Blaze smiled despite the immediate orders to destroy his target. He took his time and then reduced it to a pile of slag in a few seconds. Jason knew why he did it. Leviathan couldn't handle those types of temperatures. No doubt she was sweating worse than the others.

D stepped up after he regained his bearings from Blaze's little moment. He reached out with one hand and then slammed it on the ground. There was a loud crunch and then a metallic whine as the yellow object was suddenly pancaked flat. He stood almost instantaneously after doing so and whipped a streak of blood away from under his noise. He continued to bleed for another twenty seconds before it stopped. He looked at it funny though and then smiled at Sona as she hovered up for her power.

Sona was probably the only real magic user out of the group. She brought her hands together and started chanting. They were quick and to the point. In the span of two minutes she fired off a dozen spells, each varying in size, element, and power. A thunderstorm was the last thing she brought in. Lightning slashed at the helpless yellow object as it was zapped into slag and left burning without the aid of rain to dowse the flames.

Leviathan stepped up after Sona parted and smiled at them all. She raised both hands and then began to drag them down as if she were fighting an invisible rope. The air distorted around her and wavered for only a moment. A shimmer formed, faded, and then appeared again. It repeated as she began waving one hand over the other. Jason didn't need to be told to look closer. He zoomed in and looked at her data. She couldn't pull water out of thin air, but she had.

"_Cleaver," _Jason heard Syrus say. _"The others might not have noticed it, but when Blaze and Sona began using their abilities, others were sweating. She took their sweat and distributed it around the area and is pulling it back up to form what she needs. She's not pulling it out of thin air. She just broke it down to a level that you can't see unless you're actually standing right there. Good illusion if you ask me."_

Jason laughed despite himself. Even he was fooled by it.

Leviathan slashed at the air in front of her and the yellow block was cleaved in two. It fell apart and Jason swore the only people to cheer her on were Rose and Naruto.

"Good work. All of you." Jason looked over just enough to see the scowl on Brother Blood's face as he made his speech. "Fantastic work as always from our top ranked mystics. Now on to the next test." The arena groaned and then morphed into a track. It looked rather simple. Just run around in a circle and that would be it. "For the next test; you are not allowed to use your powers. The object here is to see how fast you can run a mile with varying objects getting in your way that you must avoid. Failure to avoid said objects will add more time to your overall time when you finish. Ten seconds per hit and after six hits you will have a minute added. Are there any questions?"

No one said anything.

"Like last time you will go in order. Begin when you are ready, Rusty."

Rusty grunted as he walked up to the starting line.

This was where it all got real as far as Jason was concerned. You could have all the powers in the world, be the strongest person, the fastest person, most durable, jump the highest, but that wouldn't mean squat if you couldn't fight or react without them. That was something Slade needed. Just because you could run at the speed of light didn't mean you could always use that to your advantage. Flash had been countered a number of times where his speed did him in. Slade trained for all of this. This was what he really came here to see.

Rusty clocked in an average run of eight minutes. He got hit three times by the varying obstacles that came out to hit him. It took four laps to reach a mile and each lap presented a new challenge. He took one hit from a random steel pole that came out of the ground, tripped twice over the hurdle when it popped up, and failed to avoid a yellow brick on a yellow metal track when it zipped out and took his legs out from under him from behind.

Pants went next and took the recorded longest. It took her ten minutes and thirty-nine seconds to complete her run. She was the slowest of them all, but she never got hit. She avoided each trap that was sent her way. At the very end she collapsed on the ground and vomited whatever it was that had been in her stomach. Jason opted to not zoom in. Syrus had no such problem and was all eyes to see what it was that left her stomach.

Blaze did the second worst. He wasn't used to not relying on his powers. That was what did him in. He couldn't avoid any of the traps because he never had to. While he shot fire from his hands, he could actually cover his entire body in white flames or any other color with varying temperatures. Because of this, he got hit by every trap available say for one which was by luck alone. He avoided the hurdle because he was unconsciously calling up his ability and had melted it in place. His final time was nine minutes and fifty seconds.

D was the next one to go with the second lowest time. His was four minutes and thirty-two seconds. The record for normal humans was at three minutes and fifty-nine seconds when rounded up. It was done by an eighteen year old high school student. He didn't hold the world record, but he was dangerously close to it. He was gunning for it though. D got hit twice. He managed to stand upright after running. He was out of breath for sure.

Sona was up next and got hit by only one obstacle, giving her a time of five minutes and three seconds. She, however, collapsed immediately and had to be looked over by a medical team when she couldn't breathe properly. It was all cleared up and she was fine in the end. She wasn't used to running like that. Floating and flying was more her style.

Leviathan walked up to the starting line and took a deep breath. Jason watched her intently.

The buzzer went off and she took off just as it sounded. The first trap came up and she avoided it by running around it. Jason laughed. It was the hurdle. Obviously running around it made more sense than jumping it. She ran under the metal pole when it snapped out, jumped over the large yellow brick when it came out, juked out of the way of the next oddly yellow obstacle, and then ran for the starting point. She completed the first lap in less than sixty seconds.

The next set of laps was the same. She avoided the traps by either going around them or actually crossing them. Hurdles were avoided, poles were ducked under, bricks were juked around, and when part of the track broke away to form a thing beam for her to run across, she demonstrated amazing balance by using her tail as a medium and form of control. She completed each lap in under the same time, finishing her off with a time of four minutes and eighteen seconds. It was rather impressive for a girl that was literally out of water.

"Good job." Brother Blood returned again.

Jason snickered when he noticed the scowl again. Was he seriously that pissed that she was doing this well? Even for an evil principle that was low. Teachers were supposed to be proud of their students. She was doing a damn fine job so far.

"The last part will be one-on-one fights. Lethal force can be used. Deathstroke is looking for someone that can kill. Keep that in mind." Jason saw him look back at Slade. The man said something and then he returned to speak with the students. "The first fight will be between Rusty and Pants."

The two stepped up to the arena where it had returned to normal.

They took their stances and when the bell rang Rusty activated his power. Pants threw out her spectral hand and grabbed him up as his time distortion ability struck her. She jumped out of the way and threw a spectral hand at him. He stumbled and tried to get her back in his power. It was too late. She grabbed him up and immediately crushed him. His blood soaked the ground and she heaved again. The time distortion ability had screwed her up though. She blinked tears out of her eyes as she was helped off the arena.

"How long was she in that thing? Time wise."

"_Eight months, two weeks, three days, and twelve hours."_

"Amazing she's not dead just from starvation or thirst."

"_It only affects your cells from what it looks like. She threw up again and hasn't eaten yet. So it won't affect things inside you. He can only infect what he sees."_

Jason sighed in understanding. He also understood that Pants was now out of commission unless they had some really good medical teams to fix her up for the next fight.

The next set of fighters were called. It was Blaze fighting D. Jason checked their files and sat up a little straighter for this one. D may have the power over gravity, but he was also one of the strongest physical fighters as well, something that most mystical users didn't have. They focused heavily on their gifted powers instead of their physical attributes. D was one of the acceptations to that rule now.

D opened up with a gravity attack and almost crushed Blaze. He used his fire ability to avoid the attack by increasing his speed. D said something in his native Indian language. Blaze fired one more quick burst of fire to avoid another blast of D's gravity ability.

"_There's a delay of two seconds between his attacks." _

Blaze knew that as well. He was constantly on the move, using quick bursts of his fire ability to increase his speed. D did the same, reversing gravity on his body and moved quicker. Blaze was unable to hit him and D wasn't able to hit him with his gravity attacks. It was a complete stalemate. D couldn't physically touch him unless he wanted to get burned to death. Blaze couldn't hit him either and had to maintain his speed or he'd be just as screwed.

The fight came down to timing and accuracy with their abilities.

Blaze heated the entire arena floor. D touched a part of the molten arena and dropped to his knees. Blaze struck and roasted him. D didn't get the chance to scream. White flames melted his body and Blaze was announced the victor.

The next fight was between Leviathan and Sona.

Once the arena had been cleaned and fixed, Sona and Leviathan walked out onto the floor and looked at each other with cold stares.

The bell rang and Sona struck first. She cast a spell and blasted Leviathan's shoulder. Her scales and armor prevented most of the damage that would have mortally wounded a normal person. She spun and lashed out with her tail, taking off the girls' shirt as a result. A few catcalls sounded from this. Teens would be teens.

The opening move came at cost for both. Despite having tougher flesh than anyone else, she still felt the opening attack from Sona and Sona had lost a lot of flesh from her chest as a result. She could last. She was a good mystic according to her file and had a higher than normal regeneration rate.

Sona spun from the blow she had taken, channeled another spell, and fired again when she was fully turned around. Leviathan had moved from the original position, ran on all fours, and came at her from the side. Sona blasted the former location where Leviathan had been and watched it turn to glass as Leviathan tackled in to her. The two rolled along the ground and tried to establish dominance over each other. This resulted with Leviathan being able to use her superior strength to overpower her and pin her to the ground.

Sona chanted another spell. Leviathan's tail appeared over her head and then struck like a snake for her face. The tail went down Sona's throat and stopped her incantation. The girl gagged and tried to breath but she couldn't. Her jaw snapped, and then her cheeks began to slowly separate. Her body went limp and Leviathan pulled her tail back. The girl coughed and was eliminated. She stood up and tossed the girl aside.

Medical teams came out and removed Sona as Brother Blood began speaking. "The first round is over and we will now move on to the next round. Sadly, there will be only one match. We will resolve the final round with all three combatants fighting it out. The fight will commence immediately."

Jason turned the gun sights on him and growled. You can't shoot him. Text scrolled across his HUD. Slade was a smart man, but Jason didn't give a damn. Even he could see that as cruel and unusual even for a criminal teacher.

Jason released the trigger and turned his sights away from Brother Blood. Shooting him would have been so simple and easy. Bulletproof glass was a joke with Syrus's gear. It might as well not even be deemed bulletproof.

The two remaining fighters approached the arena and smiled at Leviathan. She just glared at Blaze. He was the head bully for the group that tortured her the most.

Rather than go at the sound of a bell Blaze rushed her immediately. He fired off a half dozen shots. Leviathan jumped out of the way and avoided each shot as she ran for her life. Pants created her spectral limbs and began trying to grab the tricky fish girl. No doubt about it, they were coming for her first.

(-)

Naruto growled and stood up.

"Sit down!" Rose ordered, grabbing his wrist and yanking him down. "Have some faith in that girl, will you?" Naruto growled deep in his throat and got ready to stand back up when Rose yanked him down again. "She might not be the one we want. Did you ever think about that? We might not take her and we'd never come her. Let her stand on her own."

(-)

Pants began her attack, forcing Leviathan back. Her powers weren't limited to a set number. Dozens of tendrils and other monstrous limbs appeared from her form. Blaze turned and fired at her, forcing her back as she pulled her limbs back to defend herself. He laughed as he forced her back and increased the level of heat. It turned from yellow to a crimson red. The heat rose and the floor began to bubble as his flames turned blue-white.

Leviathan grabbed a piece of the wall and chucked it at him. His body shimmered and exploded into a mass of white flames that melted the metal in half. It dropped around and he turned his focus on Leviathan.

Pants, now free from his attacks, threw several limbs at him and tried to grab him. Her powers could handle what he did for a few seconds. Even the hottest flames in the world couldn't burn pure energy as fast as it could the densest metal in the world. Blaze jumped back and avoided her strike and returned to attacking her. His flames only went in front of him. He couldn't make them go any direction before in front of him. The aura of flames was his counter to his weakness.

Leviathan put a good amount of distance between him and Pants as they continued to have their throw-down. Pants power would actually stop all of his acts cold because what was lost she could rebuild until she ran out of energy. When that happened she would die very quickly. Blaze on the other hand wouldn't suffer through that problem. His powers came from the light where he could harvest heat from any light source.

Blaze stopped and turned on Leviathan. She yelped in surprise and jumped away. Her tail got a piece of the flames. She screamed, but kept running. Blaze laughed as he fired bolt after bolt of searing hot flames that barely missed her. His other downside was that he was a lousy shot when it came to moving targets. Leviathan kept running as a result and when she was finally behind Pants she turned and ran at her. Blaze didn't care and opened fire on the two of them.

Pants threw up her spectral powers and blocked it. Leviathan moved up behind her and punched her in the side. Another tendril of limbs came out and batted her away. She hit the ground and then felt intense heat wash over her. Pants didn't even try to save her. She backed off and just watched as Blaze continued to roast Leviathan with his flames. They weren't his hottest or she'd had been dead. As a man who spent years picking on her, he was obviously going to make this last.

Leviathan's constant screaming overpowered the roar of the flames and when he stopped, he laughed down at her, putting a flaming foot on the center of her back. Her armor melted off her body and her scales glowed bright red from the intense heat they had withstood. She was feeling it alright. Her skin might have been somewhat okay but her insides were a different story.

"I'm going to kill you slowly!" His foot burned brighter and Leviathan resumed screaming.

(-)

"_**You care for that thing?"**_

Naruto could feel his blood rising. He wanted to go down and save her. She was his friend. She was picked on and that made him understand her. She didn't deserve this.

"_**Kill him! Kill him at once!"**_

His body filled with power.

Rose turned and nearly jumped out of her suit when she saw wisps of red energy licking off him. His hair wavered like his power alone could move it. His eyes had already turned red, his canines sharpened, his nails turned to claws. He looked like he was going to transform into a werewolf from the old eighties movies.

(-)

Blaze stopped blasting her with his fire and looked down at her. Her hair was still there? Strange how that didn't burned away.

"I've never been burned alive," he commented. "What's it like on you? You're scales are rather hard to burn away. Then again, I'm using the lowest flame I have so that I can take my time."

Jason sighed. _Yeah, because, this team totally needs people that take pleasure in killing people. Time is money, asshole. _

Leviathan grunted and kicked him in the chest. Blaze stumbled back and laughed as she burned her foot. Blood began to seep out of her burn marks. She gasped for air and glared at him.

"Any last words?"

Leviathan raised the bottle of water and crushed the container. "I'm going to kill you slowly!" Her eyes turned bright white and purple Atlantian runes formed over her scales. The water floated in the air and then lashed out him. Blaze laughed and stood still as it struck him. It turned to steam and she pulled it back from the steam. Blaze looked impressed. Under that kind of power she could have an endless battle with him.

Pants used her power and attack Leviathan. The lizard-looking teen jumped around it and pushed her water forward. Pants brought up her defense but the water went around it and went down her mouth. Blood splattered against her defense her chest exploded outward. Water and blood mixed and Leviathan added it to her collection. Blaze looked unimpressed and attacked her. His flames died right after they left his hand. His entire body jerked and he began breathing heavily.

Leviathan ran right up to him palmed him with her water/blood mixture in the face. He opened his mouth and a loud whine sounded followed by a loud splat. The entire audience screamed from the loud noise that came from his body. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard. The entire back wall turned red like someone had thrown paint into a powerful wind turbine. It was when it left his body that it sounded like a scream in the sound of Blaze's voice. The sound reverberated off the walls of the arena for a full ten seconds. When it was finally over, Leviathan took a knee and began gasping for air.

(-)

"_That screaming we just heard right now was his blood leaving his body," _Syrus said with an eerie liking for what just took place. _"None translatable I'm afraid."_

"Damn. And I totally wanted to know what blood has to say when it's out of the human body."

"_You know I can tell your lying, right? These suits that you guys wear can actually-"_

"Apparently they can't pick up sarcasm just yet. Maybe one day the lead inventor on our team will learn how to not only incorporate that into the suits, but will also be able to show emotion through instant messenger and stuff. Kind of boring taking something someone says out of proportions when you can't understand how the feel."

Silence greeted him as text scrolled across his HUD. Get the girl and the others. We're moving out. 

Jason looked back down and saw Naruto already grabbing Leviathan up. She had taken a knee after her random burst of power. He didn't know what that had been, but it had been cool. She outsmarted everyone. The last fight wasn't anything to write home about, but she survived and that was all that matter. That was why Jason had been up here in the first place. If shit looked bad for her he was to save her while Slade called it quits and just demanded her for what he'd seen. Brother Blood couldn't read their minds with Syrus's gear.

(-)

"That was a rather impressive show," Slade said, sounding very happy over it all. Brother Blood licked his lips and smiled nonetheless. "Fancy thing that girl. I rather like her. I'll be taking her since she's the only one left alive." He moved towards the door, stopped, yanked out his pistol, and pointed it at the man. "I trust you will do as you are told next time? I'd rather not shot you. As of a matter of fact," he put the gun away and showed him Rogue. "I will unleash him on you. Rogue may have problems with authority, but I highly doubt he'll have problems with an order to tear you limb from limb. Good thing she worked better than you predicted. Even with the odds against her she still came out on top. The one girl that you hate the most actually does better than what you wanted it do. Oh well. She's mine now. Do it again, and our contract is terminated."

Slade walked out and found the others already ready to go. Leviathan was in Naruto's arms. He looked pleased.

"We'll get her to one of our medical rooms for a checkup," Slade promised. Leviathan smiled nervously. Rose laughed. "Laugh all you want, Ravenger. She will make a find member to our team. Welcome, Leviathan."

She offered a curt nod and then put her head on Naruto's shoulder.

"_**You're compassion for this creature eludes me."**_

"_Be silent, monster."_

Kyuubi howled and began banging on the steel gate. Naruto cut the link and followed the others towards their ship. Despite the fact that she was now going to be on their team, Naruto felt a great sense of dread coming his way. Kyuubi's laughter was the only real clue he had for the dangers that would bring for tomorrow.


End file.
